Spring Employment Law Newsletter

In this instalment, we take a look at some of the latest news, case law and legislation that has arisen this month which we hope will be of interest and relevance to business owners, management and HR professionals. As always, if you have any queries on any of the news or articles you read in our Employment Law Newsletter, our team of solicitors would be happy to discuss them in greater detail with you.

Jacksons Employment Law Training

With employment law moving at such a fast pace, it is crucial for employers to keep on top of changes and understand how to effectively deal with employment issues that arise.

We provide training to organisations on all aspects of employment law with the aim of equipping managers with the skills and tools to effectively juggle employment issues that may arise in compliance with both the law and best practice and with a view to achieving their commercial objectives. Our training is particularly beneficial to business owners, managers, supervisors and HR professionals.

The sessions are delivered by a member of our training team who are all qualified employment solicitors.

For more information on our training sessions, please contact us by email on squain@jacksons-law.comor speacock@jacksons-law.com or call us on 01642 356500.

Latest News

ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures has been updated

The ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures has been updated and the new version came into effect from 11 March 2015 together with an updated version of the non-statutory accompanying guide.

The Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures now confirms that employers must agree to a worker’s request to be accompanied to a disciplinary or grievance meeting by any chosen companion provided they are a colleague or trade union representative or official.  The statutory requirement for a request to be “reasonable” applies to the worker’s making of the request rather than their choice of companion.

The non-statutory accompanying guidance has also been updated and reminds employers that they can allow employees to be accompanied by individuals who do not fall within the category of colleague or trade union representative or official.

We recommend that employers take note of the revisions to the Code when dealing with disciplinary or grievance matters in the workplace.

Fit for Work service rolling out nationwide

The Fit for Work referral service is being rolled out nationwide from 9 March 2015.

The Fit for Work service aims to help employers better understand and manage sickness absence in the workplace. We would encourage employers to find out when Fit for Work will be rolled out in their area and we would recommend employers are aware of how the new service operates and what it can offer. We would be happy to speak with any employers who want to discuss how this service could be used in their business to help manage sickness absences.

New drug driving laws

Since new legislation came into force on 2 March 2015, it is now an offence for a person to drive with certain drugs above specified levels in their blood, even if they are not unfit to drive.

The new legislation cover 16 drugs, 8 of which are associated with illegal use and 8 of which are prescription drugs.  There is a defence available for someone over the specified level who has been taking drugs in accordance with medical direction and whose driving has not been impaired.

We encourage businesses to ensure their substance misuse policies and internal processes are up-to-date and fit for purpose as well as being sufficiently robust to enable substance misuse issues at work, whether it be loss of licence through a drug driving conviction, failing a random workplace test or dependency issues, to be managed effectively while protecting the business from potentially costly employment claims.

Recommendations for 2015 National Minimum Wage rates

The Low Pay Commission has made the following recommendations in respect of the National Minimum Wage rates from 1 October 2015:

• The adult rate be increased by 3% to £6.70 an hour
• The apprenticeship rate be increased by 2.6% to £2.80 an hour
• The young worker’s rate be increased by 2.2% to £3.87 an hour
• The development rate be increased by 3.3% to £5.30 an hour
• The accommodation offset limit be increased by 27p to £5.35

Limits on tribunal awards and statutory payments to increase from April 2015

From 6 April 2015 the maximum compensatory award for an unfair dismissal claim will increase from £76,574 to £78,335.

The maximum limit on a week’s pay will increase from £464 to £475 from 6 April 2015.  This figure is used to calculate statutory redundancy payments together with various awards including the basic award in unfair dismissal claims.

From 6 April 2015 the weekly rate of statutory sick pay will increase from £87.55 to £88.45.

From 5 April 2015 statutory maternity, adoption, paternity, additional paternity and shared parental pay will increase from £138.18 to £139.58 a week.  Additional paternity leave and pay will only be available in respect of babies whose expected week of child birth is before 5 April 2015. The new rules on the system of shared parental leave came into force on 1 December 2014 and apply to parents expecting babies from 5 April 2015 and onwards. For more information on the new scheme of shared parental leave, please contact one of our Employment Law solicitors.

Withholding a bonus payment from disabled employees found to be discrimination

In the case of Land Registry v Houghton and Others UKEAT/0149/14 the EAT considered whether an employer’s decision to withhold bonus payments from disabled employees who had received warnings for high levels of sickness absence amounted to discrimination.

In this case the Land Registry had a discretionary bonus scheme in place within the organisation which stated that employees who had received a formal warning during the relevant financial year were not eligible for a bonus. The scheme provided that formal conduct warnings could, at a manager’s discretion, be ignored when determining an employees bonus entitlement but the scheme did not provide for any discretion to ignore warnings given in respect of sickness absence.

There were five claimants in this case who all suffered from disabilities and had been absent as a result of their disabilities during the relevant financial year. The Land Registry had, as a reasonable adjustment, altered the usual trigger points that would normally result in a formal warning being issued. Despite the adjustments made to the trigger points, each of the five claimants ultimately received a warning for sickness absence and as a result they did not receive a bonus.

The claimants brought claims under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010 for discrimination arising from disability and were successful at the Employment Tribunal. A claim for discrimination arising from disability occurs where; A treats B unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of B’s disability and A cannot show that the treatment is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

The Employment Tribunal considered the Land Registry’s justification argument and accepted that it had a legitimate aim of acknowledging employee’s contributions and encouraging and rewarding good performance and attendance. However the Employment Tribunal found that the bonus scheme operated by the Land Registry was not a proportionate means of achieving that aim because it could not take into account the fact that three of the employees had improved their attendance record after the warning had been issued and took into account the anomaly in the scheme in that conduct warnings could be ignored but not sickness absence warnings.

The Land Registry appealed to the EAT. The EAT rejected the appeal and upheld the Employment Tribunal’s decision. The EAT found that automatic disentitlement to the bonus following disability-related absences was evidently sufficient to amount to unfavourable treatment in consequence of the disability.

As a result of this case it is important for employers to ensure that any bonus schemes operated within their business that are linked to attendance levels are sufficiently flexible to avoid withholding bonus payments in circumstances likely to be discriminatory. We would recommend employers review their bonus schemes in light of this case.

Legislation Updates

We have set out below the projected timetable for the introduction of some of the forthcoming legislation. This table will be updated in each monthly Employment Law Newsletter to include any further legislative developments.

We hope you enjoyed reading our March 2015 Employment Law Newsletter.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our employment team.

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