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Read employment law updates and news from the team below, if you have any questions relating to the news items or have any questions about employment law, please contact us on 0845 300 3574, our employment law team are experienced and qualified.
Top 5 Employment Law Tips for Employers Archdiocese of Catholic Church held Vicariously Liable for Sexual Abuse Swine Flu at work Agency Staff Seen as Second Class Council Worker Wins £66k for Unfair and Wrongful Dismissal Starting Salaries Fall for the Eighth Consecutive Month More than 50% of Workers Have Pay Cut! Sickness Absence Increase by One Third Minimum Wage to Rise to £5.80 in October Paternity Leave Extension Plan ShelvedMid Sussex District Council have had to award a council worker £66,000 in compensation, the Daily Mail reports.
Roger Mills, of East Grinstead, West Sussex had been working for the Council for 14 years and had no recorded issues during his employment. However when his employer thought he was skiving, they hired a private detective to spy on him.
They followed him for a period of four months and he was then dismissed for “gross misconduct” as he had been spending time at home during working hours. However there had been arrangement for some time for him to work from home. Roger Mills has said “I’m obviously delighted by the outcome”.
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A poll by YouGov has found that Agency workers feel they are treated as second-class citizens.
They surveyed 2,700 temporary workers and almost half of these said they received less holiday, and a third said they believed their salaries were lower, compared to permanent workers.
In redundancy situations, three quarters also believed that they received a smaller redundancy package.
TUC Secretary General Brendan Barber said “This survey shows that many employers are using the lack of employment rights and insecurity of agency workers to treat staff badly: to pay them less, to give them less holiday pay, to get out of paying them redundancy or maternity pay, and to neglect their training and development”.
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The monthly Report on Jobs by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and professional services firm KPMG, are showing on average starting salaries for permanent and temporary staff are continuing to fall for the eighth month running.
Job vacancies also are continuing to drop, whilst the need for temporary replacements has increased.
Despite this there are signs of an economic upturn, according to REC Chief Executive Kevin Green.
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More than half of workers in the UK have had to have their pay cut, benefits removed or hours reduced.
A survey by Keep Britain Working, have found 1,600 polled have been affected by the recession with pay, benefits or hours. More than a quarter have had salaries cut, just under 24% have had their hours reduced or benefits changed.
More and more companies have managed to get staff to agree to temporary cuts in pay, benefits or hours etc, in order to keep their jobs.
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Long-term sickness absence is on the up according to recent research.
A survey by Insurance provider Unum and the manufacturers organisation EEF have reported an increase in the number of employees being off work for longer than one month in 2007 and 2008.
The cause is apparently due to employees waiting for medical attention whether it be tests, medical investigations and surgery. These patients are dealing with illnesses such as cancer or stress but mostly back problems. Having to wait for appointments and treatments may be a barrier on the road to returning to work.
However overall there is an improvement in sickness levels in the manufacturing sector with 3 million less day’s absence in 2008 compared to the previous two years.
Employers are getting more and more dissatisfied with sickness absence levels and in particular the NHS sick note system.
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The government announced in May an increase of 0.07p in the minimum wage, whilst Conservative MP Christopher Chrope continues to attempt to abolish minimum wage altogether.
Unions are happy the Conservative MP’s bill has been removed from the legislation list and they say they will fight any future moves to scrap it.
The MP has tried in the past to encourage ministers to allow employers to have the choice to opt out of minimum wage legislation. His reasons for this are to try and boost employment in the recession. The bill is due to go through to parliament again shortly.
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Plans to give fathers 6 months paternity leave has been shelved to try and help employers through the recession period.
The government’s plan was announced in 2005 and it was set to come into effect this year to help mothers and fathers to share a year of parental leave.
However business groups strongly criticised the proposal saying it would be a headache and too costly.
Currently fathers are entitled to just two weeks paternity leave and this has to be taken just after the baby is born.
The government are being urged to pay fathers 90% of their salary for the first 2 weeks and also for parents to be given the option to have a months leave between them in addition to this.
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Our team is qualified, experienced and friendly to deal with. If you have any questions regarding employment law and your rights as either a business or an individual, please call us on 0845 300 3574. You can also view more information on our employment law main page.