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Employment Law Changes

Employment Law Changes    -     April 2010

We’re pleased to be able to share some of the recent employment law changes with you in our bi-annual update.  April 2010 has seen quite a large number of amended regulations and some new pieces of legislation that we should be aware of. Here are the highlights:

Changes to Paternity Leave
The Additional Paternity Leave Regulation 2010 make provision for fathers and partners (inc civil partners and same sex partners) to take up to six months' additional paternity leave provided the mother has returned to work without exercising her full entitlement to maternity leave.  This entitlement of 'transferable' paternity leave applies to parents of children due on or after 3rd April 2011 (or in the case of adoption when parents are notified of a match on or after 3rd April 2011.

Fit Note vs Sick Note
There has been much talk of the new 'fit note' which replaces the former Statutory Sick Note.  They will allow doctors to indicate whether a person is fit to return to some kind of work and highlight changes that could be taken by the employer to facilitate a return to work.  With effect from 6th April, all employees providing sick certification will need to use the new format 'fit note' under the Social Security (Medical Evidence) and the Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) Regulations 2010.

Training Rights for Employees
This new legislation currently applies to organisations employing more than 250 people but will be extended to all organisations from April 2011.  It makes provisions for employees (subject to certain criteria) having the right to request time off for study or training.  It follows a similar principle to the regulations set out under the Right to Request Flexible Working regulations.

Immigration
There are changes to Tiers 1 and 2 of the Points Based System under the Immigration rules.

Increase in the penalties for serious Data Protection breachs
An increase to £500,000 has been set as the maximum fine that the Information Commissioner can now impose on organisations for serious Data Protection breaches.

Possibly more whistleblowing claims?
Employment Tribunal forms will now include a tick box allowing claims to be forwarded to the appropriate regulator, which is thought to make 'whistleblowing' more straight forward and therefore increase the amount of claims in this area.

Changes to Statutory Rates
There is a slight increase in the rates of Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay to £124.88 (from £123.06).  The rate for SSP remains the same at £7.15

The Equality Act
The Equality Bill was passed this month and most of the provisions contained in it come into force in October 2010. This legislation will aim to harmonise various existing strands of anti-discrimination legislation into a single Act and it will strengthen and extend the law in this area.  It also includes a number of new provisions including a new concept of 'dual discrimination'.
 

Advisory Service

As organisations do not always require a full time, employed, HR provision, we can meet their requirements through a comprehensive Advisory Service offing for example advice on:

  • Managing performance, disciplinary and absence issues
  • Salary and bonus advice
  • Employee relations issues
  • Training & development
  • HR policies and procedures
  • Recruitment and selection
  • Psychometric testing
  • Departmental restructuring

HR Audits

For new clients we recommend that one of our team carry out a HR audit so that a general review of policies, procedures and practices can be undertaken.  The consultant will look in detail at contracts of employment, handbooks, policies and other employee documentation and records. They will review these HR related activities for legal compliance and adherence to best practice and draw up recommendations with priority ratings to enable the client to understand and choose the level of action to be taken.

Psychometric Testing

In order to further validate a recruitment decision or support employee career development, we would advocate the use of psychometric testing. We are licensed to administer and interpret tests which focus on ability and aptitude i.e. verbal, numerical reasoning, spatial awareness, mechanical comprehension etc or those which analyse personality and behaviour types.
We only use appropriately researched and externally validated test material, which can be offered in a number of languages. Our service includes detailed feedback by way of both verbal and written reports to both candidate/employee and the employer.