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The delicate balance – ill health dismissals
Deciding when is appropriate to terminate the employment of an employee who has been long term absent due to ill health is a difficult decision. The Court of Appeal’s decision in O’Brien v Bolton St Catherine’s Academy [2017] EWCA Civ 145 provides some useful guidance on this issue
24 hour NHS retirement – piece of cake, right?
Afraid not! The process for 24 hour retirement from your NHS contract can be complex and will take quite some time. Faisal Dhalla, a partner in the specialist commercial dental team at Hempsons shares his tips and advice for ensuring your 24 hour retirement goes smoothly.
The implications of King v The Sash Window Workshop for backpay claims
A recent ECJ case has set out that employers can be ordered to provide paid holidays to even apparently self-employed contractors. The ECJ went on to provide that backpay holiday claims could stretch back to the worker’s commencement.
Holiday pay update
Over the last few years the courts have increasingly ruled more types of payments ought to be included in holiday pay calculations. However, the prevailing view has been that only compulsory overtime need be included...
Farewell to ET fees, but what next?
For the last four years, an employee wanting to take a case to an employment tribunal has had to pay a fee of up to £1,200. For many lower paid employees – or where relatively little money was at stake – this fee may have been a deterrent to starting action...
The National Minimum Wage, Sleep-In Shifts and the Social Care Sector – Update on HMRC Enforcement
On 26 July 2017, HM Revenue and Customs (‘HMRC’) suspended enforcement action against employers in the social care sector in relation to the National Minimum Wage (‘NMW’)/National Living Wage (‘NLW’). This decision followed on from the decision in the Mencap case (Focus Care Agency Limited v Roberts, Frudd v The Partington Group Limited, and Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson Blake, 2017). The decision that a care worker could be “working” whilst asleep highlighted a significant liability in the care sector, where workers traditionally have been paid a fixed sleep-in allowance, and were often paid below the NMW/NLW.
Healthcare newsbrief: Winter 2017 edition now available
Welcome to the winter edition of Hempsons’ Healthcare Newsbrief. Many of you will be reading this at the NHS Providers conference where many of the issues we are writing about – from moving towards digital records to the issues around moving to an accountable care organisation – will be either discussed or on the minds of delegates...
Can an Investigation be Too Thorough?
In NHS 24 v Pillar the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has overturned a Tribunal’s decision that a disciplinary investigation was too thorough and it was unfair to include details of prior incidents which had not resulted in disciplinary action.
Voluntary overtime v. right to holiday pay
Regular voluntary overtime be taken into account when calculating holiday pay. The EAT has confirmed in Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts and Others that “remuneration linked to overtime work that was performed on a voluntary basis could be included in normal remuneration for calculating holiday pay”.
Global Digital Exemplars – Getting staff to adopt new ways of working
With the need to change and reconfigure the existing NHS workforce to meet the demands of new service models comes the need to ensure that the workforce are familiar with and are utilising new technology. A digitally fluent workforce is a necessity.
Newsflash: Employment Tribunal fees abolished
The Supreme Court has held the current fee regime for employment tribunal fees to be unlawful and prevents access to justice.
Newsflash: Sleep-ins and National Minimum Wage enforcement
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has today announced that enforcement in relation to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for sleep-in shifts in the social care sector will be temporarily suspended.
Changes to the National Minimum and Living Wage – What are the benefits and consequences?
The National Living Wage was introduced in April 2016, which in effect created a higher minimum wage of £7.20 per hour for workers aged 25 and older. A year on, following further increases to the National Living and Minimum Wages in April 2017, what difference has this increase made to employers and employees?
Dress codes, headscarves and discrimination
The issue of dress codes and religious clothing has featured in the news recently, following the case brought be a Belgian receptionist in Achbita v G4S Secure Solutions. The case was reported as supporting a ban on headscarves, but the actual outcome was slightly more complicated than that.