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Welcome to HR Today, the monthly newsletter from IntellectHR keeping you up-to-date with employment law changes and free HR services that our members are entitled to.
In addition to the newsletter, Intellect members have full access to our free IntellectHR service, providing you with web-based HR guidance including a full range of practical step-by-step guides, letters, forms, contracts, an employee handbook, and customisable policies.
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What should I do if I am asked to act as a referee for a person leaving? |
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This month we answer a question sent in by Jackie from Northampton.
References have changed over the years - mostly due to fears of being called to account in today's 'sue society'. It's become common practice for larger employers to merely provide cold facts confirming name, job title and dates - this makes it more acceptable for others to follow suit, especially if from a centralised HR department.
Read the full answer»
Send your HR questions to communications@intellectuk.org
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Managing depression |
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The news is depressing, the weather's depressing, and the economic outlook is depressing - no wonder we all feel somewhat 'down' - as we head towards the winter.
With the addition of the dreaded 'credit crunch', the sad prospect of widespread redundancies on the horizon and the known debt problems of many UK employees, the problem of depression is likely to get worse over the winter months to come.
Read more»
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Introducing the new identity cards |
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The design of the new UK identity cards, issued initially to foreign nationals from 25 November 2008, has now been revealed. The card is the size of a credit card and includes a digitised photograph, name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status and, in an electronic chip, biometric details including fingerprints and a digital facial image. Detailed guidance on how to check the validity of a card and describing its security features is available.
Read the full story»
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Reminder of changes for last month |
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Just a reminder that last month:
- the National Minimum Wage increased
- Trade union membership rules were amended
- the remaining duties put on directors by the Companies Act 2006 came into effect, and a minimum age (16) was implemented
- those whose babies are due on or after 05 October, or who expect to adopt on or after this date, receive non-pay benefits throughout the full period of their leave
- agency workers on short-term contracts of less than 13 weeks are now entitled to SSP from day one of their contract |
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Age discrimination |
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The Civil Service is leading the way and has announced that it is to scrap its mandatory retirement age policy from March 2010.
However, a survey by law firm Berwin Leighton found that two-thirds of their respondents felt the law was having a negative effect. Each request to work past retirement age took at least half a day to deal with, and 20 per cent of the companies they surveyed (which were large companies) had dealt with age-related grievances since the discrimination laws were introduced. | | |
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Agency Workers' Directive goes ahead |
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The Agency Workers' Directive has been passed by the European Parliament. In the UK, this will give agency workers equal rights to permanent staff after 12 weeks with an employer.
It is not yet known when this law will come into force in the UK. |
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The loss of the Working Time opt-out seems likely |
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The other piece of legislation being debated with the Agency Workers' Directive was the Working Time Directive (retention of the opt-out). As it happens, the delay by the European Council and European Parliament in reaching agreement has helped those employers anxious to preserve the opt-out, as until agreement is reached, the status quo is preserved. |
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Delays to other changes? |
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It has been reported that Peter Mandelson has ordered a review of recent policy announcements - including the extension of the right to request flexible working to all those with children aged up to 16 - with the possible view of delaying these due to the current economic crisis.
The extension of the right to request flexible working was planned for April 2009. |
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Tribunals to release details of respondents? |
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It looks that we may now learn the identity of all respondents to employment tribunal cases in future. Details of both parties (not just the respondents) used to be freely available until some years ago, after which they were withheld following complaints that both parties were being targetted by commercial organisations offering their services. |
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Further changes to maternity? |
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We've just updated our maternity and adoption policies in the light of the recent changes, thinking that was it for a while, when along comes an announcement that the European Commission has published proposals for a revision of the Pregnant Workers' Directive. Most of the proposals are already covered by UK legislation, but two may have an impact on us. |
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Some interesting cases |
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- time off for dependants - what is 'unexpected'?
- night workers - working time and the National Minimum Wage - further clarification?
- fixed-term employees - maximum duration
- religious discrimination is interpreted broadly |
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Harsher penalties for health and safety failings |
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The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 has now received royal assent. This will result in stricter punishments for health and safety failings from January 2009. The maximum penalty that can be imposed for breaching health and safety regulations in the lower courts will be increased from £5,000 to £20,000, and the range of offences for which an individual can be imprisoned is significantly broadened.
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New documents |
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- We have updated our maternity and adoption policy and guidelines - if you use our templates, we would suggest that you update yours accordingly.
- We've added the following to the website
- a homeworking induction checklist Read more»
- a legal overview of automatic unfair dismissal Read more»
- a guide to managing depression Read more»
- We've also added a new range of DOs and DON'Ts - which can be used as handouts in a training course, or as a quick refresher for managers - these are only available to premium subscribers and cover appraisal, discipline, recruitment, redundancy and essential employment law.
For further details of our premium service, which allows you to store your customised versions of our template documents on our server, and update these quickly and easily, and which also offers a wider range of specialised documents, click here. The cost of upgrading to the premium service is £100 per annum.
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