Archive
Category: General
Legal lightbulb – people law, policy and practice
New family-friendly laws receive Royal Assent
Three new Acts introducing new family-friendly rights will become law:
- The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave for eligible parents whose newborn baby is admitted to neonatal care (in addition to other leave such as maternity or paternity).
- The Carer’s Leave Act creates a new right to unpaid leave for employees who are caring for a dependent who has a long-term care requirement.
- The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act will provide further protection against redundancy for an extended period for those who have recently been on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
When the government have announced the dates these laws will be introduced, we’ll let you know.
A new British standard for supporting menopause at work
The British Standards Institute has launched a new workplace standard (BS 30416) on menstrual and menopausal health. 45% of women believe that menopausal symptoms have had a negative impact on their performance at work, with one in 10 women leaving their jobs due to symptoms.
The aim is to promote awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by individuals during this time and for businesses to adopt positive practices to support. BS 30416 offers a number of recommendations such as introducing a menopause policy (we have one on Intelligent Employment), more manager training, using non-stigmatising language, offering flexible working arrangements, flexible uniform or dress codes…and plenty more! If you want to know more, click here.
People dates for your diary – August 2023
04 | Cycle to Work Day
07-13 | Afternoon Tea Week
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Redundancy – be clear on your reasons
If you’re considering making redundancies, you need to be clear on your reasons. If you’re unable to explain clearly why there was a redundancy situation, you’ll be exposed to unfair dismissal claims of up to a year’s pay for each redundant employee.
Here’s what you need to know:
Focus on business needs – consider business priorities, whether annual plans are on track and if not, how they need to be adjusted. Is there reducing demand, do particular roles need reshaping or are they no longer affordable? A tribunal will check whether your reasons for change were genuine, or whether you’re dismissing for another reason (e.g. poor performance) but disguising the dismissal as redundancy.
Record your reasons – you’ll need to be able to show your reasons for redundancy at the time you made the decision. Save spreadsheets, business plans, sales figures, and anything else that shows your thinking at the time.
TUPE – if your reason for the change is outsourcing, you’ll need to take advice on whether you’re creating a TUPE transfer. However genuine your reasons, if outsourcing creates a TUPE transfer you’ll need to take extra care when making redundancies as employees subject to TUPE transfers are afforded enhanced employment law protection.
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Limiting non-compete clauses to three months
The government has announced their intention to introduce legislation that will limit the duration of non-compete clauses in employment contracts to just three months.
What does this mean for your existing non-compete clauses and post-termination restrictions (PTRs)? Here’s what you need to know:
Only non-compete clauses – the proposals will not affect your ability to use other PTRs (such as non-solicitation or non-poaching clauses), garden leave periods, or confidentiality provisions. It’s only going to be non-competes that are time-limited to three months.
Existing clauses – we don’t know if the three-month limit will apply retrospectively to non-competes in existing contracts (effectively cutting short any longer clauses by default), or whether the limit will only apply to contracts entered into after the legislation comes into force.
Restrictions in other documents – the announcement only refers to non-competes in “employment contracts”. We’ll need to wait for further detail on the legislation to know whether you’ll be able to use longer non-competes in other documents such as shareholder or settlement agreements.
Test for enforceability – irrespective of the proposed time limit, non-competes will still only be enforceable if they go no further than necessary to protect your legitimate business interests. They’ll still need careful drafting!
Timescales – legislation will be introduced “when parliamentary time allows”. We’ll update you when we know more and when the legislation will be introduced.
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Business change on the horizon?
If you’re thinking there might be business change on the horizon and the potential for redundancy, you’ll need to identify that you have a genuine redundancy situation.
It sounds simple, but it’s not always intuitive – here are a few things for you to consider:
The same amount of work – even if you have the same amount of work, if you now need fewer people to do that work, it is still likely to be a redundancy situation.
Reduction in work – if you have a reduction of a particular kind of work but the same number of employees needed, asking employees to change what they do perhaps by reducing their role or hours, may amount to a redundancy.
Practical reality – you need to focus on the practical reality of the role and not what was written down in a job description years before (if that’s different from what’s happening on a day-to-day basis).
Adding to a role – it will be a redundancy situation if it means that the particular kind of work that the employee is doing is disappearing or reducing.
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Employment contracts and the ‘3Cs’ – pt.4 | Contemporary
Did you know, fewer than 20% of employees actually read their employment contract before signing? That’s staggeringly low for such an important document, and why our last ‘C’, contemporary, is key to boosting engagement.
Here are my top tips for creating contracts that are engaging, practical…and actually read:
Stop writing in the third person – swapping ‘the Company’ for ‘we/us’ immediately creates a connection with your audience and creates a more personal, interesting and engaging read.
Cut out the jargon – if your reader is having to wade through little understood terminology you’re losing their attention, fast! Employment contracts should be user-friendly and easy to understand throughout.
Intuitive layout – create a ‘start, middle and end’ that corresponds with the employment journey to make it easier to navigate and find relevant detail.
Keep it simple – don’t worry about catering for every eventuality. From a legal perspective that can be unhelpful and means the length of the document will in itself switch off the reader.