In 2011 a review of workplace sickness absence was carried out by Dame Carol Black, the Government's national director for health and work, and David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce.

The Government has responded to that review by announcing that it will introduce a new independent assessment and advisory service in order to address sickness absence and get employees back to work.

This is likely to be in place by 2014. The service will offer a health assessment for employees who have

2013 is shaping up to be another busy year for employment lawyers and HR professionals alike. With a raft of changes expected, we have summarised the most important, and will keep you updated throughout the year with regular blogs and tweets about employment law 2013.

1. From 1^st February:

- the Unfair dismissal compensation award limit will increase from £72,300 to £74,200, and

- a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy will increase from £430 to £450.

2. The Enterprise Regulatory and Reform Bill

What Facebook employment advice should you know about and what disciplinary action could be taken against you?

The rise in the use of social media in both business and in private is stratospheric. Often the lines between what is work related and what is truly 'private' can become blurred. Employees have been dismissed because of inappropriate comments (which have amounted to bullying and harassment) being posted on Facebook about colleagues, or where they have posted comments which have brought the employer into disrepute.

A Housing

We highlighted some issues that can surround a transfer of undertakings under TUPE, particularly in relation to service provision changes (SPC).

One of conditions that have to be satisfied for service provision changes to occur is whether, immediately before the SPC, there is an organised grouping of employees whose principal purpose is working for the 'client'.

But who is the 'client' This case helps to answer this question.

The case involved an in house lawyer who worked for JAS Ltd, part of the Jarvis Group.

Do you know what's on the cards for Employment Law in 2013?

Agency Workers

The Government is expected to review employers' administrative obligations in the Agency Workers Regulations in June 2013, with a view to making sure that practical arrangements are as straightforward as possible.

Unfair Dismissal Compensation

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (ERRB), which is currently progressing through Parliament, will:

• give the Secretary of State power to change the limit on the amount of unfair dismissal compensation.
• change the name of Compromise Agreements

Employers with more than 5 employees were required, until 1^st October 2012, to help their employees access a stakeholder pension scheme but this requirement has now been abolished with the introduction of the so called auto-enrolment pension scheme. However, transitional provisions do still allow an employer to continue deducting contributions from the salary of an employee who is an existing member of a stakeholder scheme after 1 October 2012. It's best to check with the scheme provider for further guidance on this.

Auto-enrolment means

So what are owner-employee contracts? In his speech to the Conservative Party conference on 8 October 2012, Chancellor George Osborne set out proposals which could see employees give up employment rights in return for shares in their company and tax free gains under a new owner/employee contract.

People employed on the contract will give up their rights to claim unfair dismissal, redundancy, the right to request flexible working and time off for training. Women will also have to give 16 weeks' notice of their date

Whether or not workers can reclaim holidays if they are sick during annual leave has caused a headache for employers for some time. In 2012, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in workers? favour. So what is the impact of sickness during annual leave?

What does this mean for employers?

In the case of ANGED v FASGA, the ECJ held that workers who fall ill during annual leave can take their holiday again at a later date.

Workers are already allowed to retake

Employment Tribunal statistics

The Employment Tribunals have published their annual statistics for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012. Interestingly the total number of claims continues to decrease (from 236,000 in 2009/2010 to 218,000 in 2010/2011 and decreasing again to 186,000 in 2011/212).

Unfair dismissal claims have fallen from 47,900 to 46,300. If anyone is interested in reading the report it can be obtained from the Ministry of Justice website.

Employment Tribunal fees

The Ministry of Justice has recently published the results of

The European Commission published draft proposals in January 2012 which aim to update data protection regulations and unify data protection within the EU.

Summary of Proposals

• Stricter requirements on organisations to adopt policies and procedures that clearly demonstrate how processing of personal data is carried out. Organisations will only be able to collect the minimum amount of data required for the task in hand, and can't retain data for longer than is necessary.
• Public authorities or commercial organisations which employ more than 250 people will

We are often asked - do I need an employment contract? The employment status of an individual isn't always easy to answer, but is important for a number of reasons. Certain legal rights only apply if an individual is an employee: e.g. the right not to be unfairly dismissed and the right to receive a statutory redundancy payment. If you don't have an employment contract is that a problem?

By law an employee is defined as an individual who has entered into or works under

We are often asked by charities: what legal status do volunteers have? And how they should be recruited? It's increasingly common for school leavers and the unemployed to undertake volunteering to boost their CVs.

Although volunteers aren't covered by discrimination legislation it's sensible to adopt the same recruitment practices as paid employees, including a robust paper trail documenting every decision made in the process:

• from shortlisting;
• to interview notes; and
• the offer.

Decisions should be recorded clearly and in an objective manner to minimise disputes

Just what are the risks when recruiting via social media? ACAS now estimate that up to 25% of employers use social media as part of their recruitment process to vet job applicants. By taking a closer look at social media as a recruitment tool in general, are you aware of the legal implications for employers?

The massive growth in popularity of social media can't be overstated. It's perhaps not surprising that employers are tempted to view the online profiles of job applicants. There are, however,

In March 2012, the Government announced it was seeking views on whether a system of no fault dismissals for businesses with fewer than 10 employees could work. The Government also announced the publication of a "call for evidence" on whether current dismissal procedures are too complicated and burdensome for employers, and whether the process is in need of a radical makeover.

George Osborne hinted at the introduction of such a system when he addressed the manufacturers' association EEF in March 2012. This could potentially mean,

When recruiting new members of staff it is important for employers to understand which individuals have permission to work in the UK.

Who automatically has the right to work in the UK?

- British citizens (this does NOT include British Dependent Territories citizens and British Overseas citizens)

- Those who have the right of abode in the UK

- Those who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK

- European Economic Area (EEA) nationals & Swiss nationals and their spouses/civil partners

- Commonwealth nationals

Readers of our blog will recall that the government is currently undertaking a reform of the Employment Tribunal system which will involve looking at workplace mediation as a way to help resolve employee disputes. As part of this process it has been announced that a pilot scheme for two regional mediation networks will be set up in Cambridge and Manchester for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The pilots will run for 12 months and, if successful, the Government will consider introducing them into other areas

Are you aware of the issue of indirect discrimination in recruitment practices? In January 2012, the Northern Ireland Industrial Tribunal found in favour of a mum who had been discriminated against by not being shortlisted for a post because she did not have the required experience.

Although it's a decision from a different jurisdiction, it is a useful reminder that if organisations have strict experience requirements in place when it comes to shortlisting candidates, they should be mindful of indirect sex discrimination claims.

In Summary:

As an employer (or employee), what rights do pregnant employees have? Are you not sure how to deal with time off for your employees? Our brief checklist should help.

1. Sick Leave

- Pregnant employees have the same rights to paid sick leave as all other employees (apart from the last four weeks of pregnancy). If an employee is ill during their pregnancy, they should still follow their employer's normal sickness reporting procedures. If they qualify, they will be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

With Christmas fast approaching, thoughts turn naturally to social events. It's the time of year when most employees feel they can look forward to a slowing pace of work and the office Christmas party. Most workplaces will have a function of some sort to celebrate the festive season, whether it's a lunch or dinner at an external venue, or something in the business premises themselves. It is often seen as a good way to boost staff morale and make employees feel appreciated. However what can

How do you deal with employee absence in bad weather? "Boss, there's a river running down my street, I can't come into work." Sound familiar? Not only does adverse weather cause problems for employees who commute to work, it can result in significant financial loss to the employer, particularly if the bad weather is on-going.

Below are the answers to commonly asked questions about employee absence during adverse weather:

If an employee fails to show up for work because of bad weather do I have

In May 2011 we reported that the Coalition government had announced plans to reform UK employment laws. But are the employment law reforms good for employers? Details of the reforms are slowly starting to emerge as the Chancellor has announced that:

1. As from the 1st April 2012 an employee will need to have been employed for 2 years as opposed to 12 months before they can bring a claim for unfair dismissal against their employer

2. Secondly, fees will be introduced for

TUPE protects employees by ensuring that a transfer does not disadvantage them in any way, by preventing variations to the employment contract. We are often asked - are TUPE and contractual variations permitted?

The recent case of Smith v. Trustees of Brooklands College (EAT) has confirmed that an agreed variation to an employment contract following a TUPE transfer is effective where the transfer is not the sole or principal reason for the variation.

All contractual variations are void if the sole or principal reason is

Due to the current economic climate many employers will reduce staffing levels and/or restructure their organisation to make savings. Employers need to consider in advance redundancy preparation & consultation requirements for any redundancies.

Failure to follow the correct procedures when making redundancies could prove to be costly, particularly if it results in legal proceedings being raised against the employer.

Unfair dismissal arising for redundancy may be caused by the following:
-  Unfair selection of pools
-  Unfair application of selection criteria
-  Failure to fully

After many years of campaigning by trade unions, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 are due to come into force on 1 October 2011 (and are not retrospective).

In general terms, agency workers will qualify for treatment equal to directly employed workers - that is equality in terms of basic employment conditions; after 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer regardless of whether they have been supplied by more than one agency for part of that period of time. Basic working and employment

A number of national newspapers, along with the BBC, reported (from a Government source) that the Coalition were planning to introduce wide-ranging and controversial reforms to UK employment legislation.

This was to include:

• a cap on discrimination awards at tribunals
• dilution of the TUPE rights protecting transferring employees
• a reduction in the current redundancy consultation periods

The actual published statement when it came was somewhat weakened: they will be "looking carefully at the arguments for reform" and "legislation will not necessarily be the route to

Employment tribunal procedure is designed to deal with claims brought against employers by employees, which have not been resolved by other means. Many employment rights are contained in legislation and the majority of these rights can only be enforced by Employment Tribunals. Tribunals also have jurisdiction to consider some contractual claims arising from contracts of employment. While an Employment Tribunal hearing is less formal than a court hearing, the decisions made by Employment Tribunals are legally binding and must be followed. So what happens on