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Legal
Unlawful deduction from wages
EAT recently upheld a tribunal decision that employees
could claim for unlawful deduction from wages even though
the claims were out of time under the Working Time Regulations.
Following this decision a claim for compensation for statutory
paid annual leave can now be taken under the unlawful
deduction of wages provisions in the Employment Rights
Act. Under the Act, 'wages' for this purpose include 'holiday
pay' whether payable under a worker's contract of employment
or 'otherwise'. Therefore an employee is entitled to compensation
for annual leave whether or not it has actually been taken.
Full pay for on call workers
The Scottish Court of Session held recently that when
an employee is required by his employer to be present
on the employer's premises for a certain number of hours,
the employer is required to pay the employee for all of
those hours. In this case the Court of Session held that
although the employee was allowed to sleep during his
shift, he was in attendance throughout the night and could
be called upon at any time to deal with alarms. On that
basis, the whole 14 hour shift was "time work" and the
employee was entitled to be paid for the hours during
which he was asleep in line with the national minimum
wage.
Some clarity in regards to TUPE
The Court of Appeal recently upheld the decision of both
the EAT and the Employment Tribunal concerning an employee
who had not transferred by virtue of TUPE because she
was assigned to work for another employee at the time
of transfer rather than to the transferring undertaking.
The employee worked as a personal assistant for a manager
who had several main roles, one of which was in respect
of the business which was transferred. He was not regarded
as assigned to the part of an undertaking transferred
and the Court of Appeal upheld a finding that the personal
assistant was not assigned to the transferred undertaking
either, notwithstanding that the majority of her work
related to the contract transferred. According to Lord
Justice Pill, the fact that her manager was not assigned
was "a strong pointer that he and his personal assistant
were not part of the human stock" of the undertaking transferred.
Discrimination based on cultural and racial differences
The EAT found recently that an Employment Tribunal erred
in holding that an employer discriminated against an employee
of Iraqi origins. EAT decided that the tribunal failed
to consider how the employer would have treated a person
not of Iraqi origin who had behaved in a manner in which
the employee behaved. EAT held that whilst it may sometimes
be legitimate for a tribunal to take into account differences
in behaviour which reflect racial and cultural differences,
it was wrong for a tribunal to make findings based on
the existence of such differences unless there was some
evidential basis for them, such as expert evidence.
Harassment or abuse !
The EAT found recently that an Employment Tribunal erred
in holding that an employee was discriminated against
because of a racially insensitive remark. The EAT held
that it was an error of law to reach that conclusion without
considering whether the employee actually suffered some
detriment as a result of the remark. The EAT viewed that
the expression 'harassment' involves two elements the
first of which is the targeting of the person being harassed
and the second is the causing of distress to the target.
EAT found that in this case the fact that the employee
making the complaint had not provided evidence to show
that she had been caused distress by the remark at the
time it was made, meant that it did not amount to racial
harassment.
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Employment Rights
New maternity rights
Changes in maternity and parental legislation are taking
place that will apply to parents whose babies are due on
or after April 6 2003. The changes will increase the amount
of leave and pay available. Included in this new legislation
is the introduction of two weeks paid paternity leave for
fathers of babies due on or after 6 April 2003 and a new
right to 26 weeks unpaid adoption leave, if you have worked
for your employer for 26 weeks. Mothers and fathers of children
aged under six, or disabled children under 18, will have
the right to apply to work flexibly. Employers will have
a duty to consider requests seriously and will be able to
refuse only where there is a clear business reason.
No right to drink
A decision of the General Medical Council to order an absolute
ban on alcohol as a condition to a doctor being allowed to
continue practising was upheld as being neither unreasonable
nor oppressive, nor was it a breach of the European Convention
of Human Rights. The doctor, who had a history of depression
and alcohol abuse, had complained that the conditions of the
ban infringed his right for a private life under the European
Convention on Human Rights. The Privy Council held that the
condition to abstain from alcohol consumption did not breach
Article 8(1) since the doctor could still attend his local
pub or engage in social life while drinking non-alcoholic
drinks. In addition, as a doctor his 'right' to an unrestricted
social life was subject to the wider public interest of ensuring
that he did not present a risk to his patients.
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Health & Safety
Falling down on the job
A recent TUC report found that slip and
trip problems were a problem in 84% of the organisations
they surveyed and that slips and trips are the largest cause
of major injuries sustained at work in Britain. Every hour
someone in Britain breaks a bone and the problem currently
costs the UK economy over £1 billion a year. The latest
workplace injury and ill health statistics figures show
that the number of people reporting injuries leading to
at least a three-day absence from work caused by slips and
trips has risen since 1996, from 24,000 to over 29,000 in
2002.
Stress and workplace absences
Recent HSE statistics reveal that UK workplaces
have seen a dramatic rise in the amount of stress-related
illness. The prevalence of work-related stress is now around
double the level it was in 1990. Of the 32.9 million days
lost to illness in 2002, 13.4 million were attributed to
stress, anxiety or depression. In the twelve month period
between December 2001 and December 2002 there was an estimated
265,000 new cases of stress and at 29.2 days of absence
the average time lost per case is higher than for all
work related illness.
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Bargaining issues
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Workplace Issues
Flexible working
A recent survey by the Department of Trade
and Industry found that a third of people looking for a
job would prefer flexible working to an extra £1,000 a year
and nearly two-thirds consider work-life balance an important
factor in assessing a new job. However a UNISON survey of
nurses raises concern that the NHS 'Working lives initiative'
is failing to provide the flexible working arrangements
that staff are looking for. The survey found that 73% of
staff surveyed said that their working hours conflicted
with their domestic arrangements.
The true extent of workplace bulling
The largest study on bullying to date,
published in 2000 indicated that more than 2 million workers
across the economy were bullied in the six-month period
of the study. Based on a survey of nearly 5,3000 workers
in 70 different organisations found:
- 10.6% people reported being bullied at work
- 24.7% had been bullied within the last 5 years
- 46.5% had witnessed bullying in the last 5 years
- Managers were reported as perpetrators 74.7% of incidents
EQUALITIES
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AND FINALLY
And finally
A German town has found that sleeping on the job, albeit
in limited doses, can boost workers' efficiency. For two
years, civil servants in the small town of Vechta, Southwest
of Hamburg, have been allowed 20 minutes after lunch to
go home and take a nap, doze in their office chairs or
otherwise relax. Vechta started the project because it
had too much work for too few employees and no budget
to hire new civil servants. A local health insurance company
gave them courses on napping [Courses on napping? Now
you know I can't be making this up!]
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