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Maternity benefit changes effective from October

Those whose babies are due on or after 05 October 2008 will benefit from the removal of the distinction between ordinary and additional maternity leave. For these employees, benefits other than remuneration (including the accrual of contractual holiday, life insurance, medical cover, gym membership and company cars) will continue throughout the entire period of maternity leave. Confusion has arisen in relation to pension contributions. The new definition of 'remuneration' in the SDA is 'wages or salary', so legal advisors are saying that the implications are that employers may now be liable for pension contributions throughout the maternity leave. More

National minimum wage and tips

Where tips are paid through the payroll as part of wages they can count towards the National Minimum Wage. If the money does not go through the payroll, tips cannot count as part of the minimum wage. Most restaurants run a 'tronc' system, where someone holds the tips to be passed to waiting and kitchen staff.

The House of Lords have been debating the powers the government has to ensure tips go to staff and not to restaurant owners. More

Tribunal claims - ACAS conciliation and judgements

Since October 2004, the ability of ACAS to conciliate prior to a tribunal hearing has been limited to a fixed period (either 7 or 13 weeks, depending on the type of claim). However, in the light of the government's intention to abolish fixed periods of conciliation, ACAS has decided that as from now it is prepared to conciliate in all cases, irrespective of whether the fixed period has expired. Whilst on the subject of tribunals, it would seem that tribunal judgements may be available online in the future. More

Increase in magistrates' allowances from May 2008

As from 01 May 2008, the rates payable to magistrates increased as follows:

- for self-employed magistrates: from £52.96 to £56.63 for a half-day (up to four hours) and £105.92 to £113.26 for a full-day (over four hours)
- for employed magistrates, from £42.37 to £45.30 for a half-day sitting and from £84.74 to £90.61 for a full day sitting

You will be aware from previous newsletters that the government has started to replace the previous work permit system with a new 5-tier points based system. There has been some confusion about highly skilled migrants, resulting in an embarrassing u-turn by the government.

Previously migrant workers had to pay £90 to register under the Accession States Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) and once they had been working legally in the UK for 12 months without a break they would have full rights of free movement and would no longer need to register on the WRS. The WRS ends on 30 April 2009 and from that date workers from the eight Accession States will have full rights of free movement. More

A bit less red tape for SMEs?

In an attempt to cut the legislative burden, the government is asking the European Commission to exempt UK companies that employ fewer than 20 people from future EU regulations. If approved, the exemption would be included in the draft European Small Business Act. If not, the government is requesting that small companies should be able to take a simpler approach to implementing the regulations. It also wants the European Commission to let it introduce key legislation on only one or two days a year, as the UK does.

Some interesting cases...

- What is redundancy?
- Changes to contractual terms.
- First tribunal decision on flexible benefits and age discrimination.
- What is unreasonable and bullying behaviour?
- How high can sex discrimination compensation go?
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Risk assessments for pregnant employees

Once an employer has been notified in writing of the pregnancy, birth or the fact that an employee is breastfeeding, the employer is under an obligation to do all that is reasonable to remove or prevent exposure to any significant risk that has been found. The employer should inform the employee about any risk and what action has been taken under The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Failure to carry out a risk assessment in respect of a pregnant employee is unlawful sex discrimination. More

Work placements - health and safety guidance for students

The examining body Edexcel has launched an online learning programme to provide students undertaking a work placement with the knowledge and understanding of potential risks and hazards in their workplace. The learner participates in interactive exercises and completes health and safety theory and self assessment questions. Students who complete the programme will be recognised with a Level 2 BTEC award in Safe Learning in the Workplace. More information is available at www.edexcel.org.uk/safelearner. The cost is £10 per learner.

a recruitment letter

a letter to invite a candidate to a second interview (members only) More

Beware of those who offer chocolate, who overhear your conversations and who talk loudly on their mobiles in public places!

Apparently women are four times more likely than men to give away passwords for chocolate! An interesting experiment done by Infosecurity Europe on 576 office workers outside Liverpool Street Station in London found that 45 per cent of women (10 per cent of men) were prepared to give away their password to a stranger masquerading as a market researcher with the lure of a chocolate bar as an incentive for filling in the survey. More

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As always we look forward to hearing from you and advising you on your HR issues and concerns. If you have any feedback on this newsletter, our website or our service to you generally, please contact us.