May 2016 news

It’s May and the Government’s thinking of sewing the seeds of change to HR/employment law by planning a call for evidence on the use of restrictive covenants.  More solid roots are already being put down to curb illegal working with the new Immigration Act becoming law and there is new guidance available on carrying out criminal records checks.

In our case update this month, we focus on sickness absence and firstly take a look at a helpful case for employers which deals with a fair dismissal for ‘pulling a sickie’ and secondly a more cautionary tale where insensitive contact with an employee when off sick leads to an unfair dismissal.  Finally we consider the implications of a case which suggests that you can change the terms of a contract orally or by conduct, even if the contract says such variation has to be made in writing.

What Jenni has been doing recently…

Recently I have been working a lot with our clients from the education and charities sector both at a strategic level and with general HR management.  It gives me great pleasure to work with these clients as they do fantastic work educating, supporting and empowering children, young people and adults.  Employment law can be challenging and a bit of a mine field, but I’ve come to realise that advising in the background is definitely the easy job – it’s the HR professionals who have the tough job implementing that advice and keeping everyone in their organisation happy.  We are lucky enough here to have built long lasting relationships with our clients so we get to really understand their business and the challenges they face.  This in turn helps us tailor our advice to the individual client and hopefully lighten their load

Our TUPE event

Don’t miss out – bookings are coming in fast for our Employment Law Focus: Everything you need to know about TUPE seminar on 28^th June 2016.

TUPE is one of the areas that we are most regularly asked to advise on, and one of the most-repeated requests we get for learning and development focus. This seminar is a one-stop-shop for making sure that you are right up to speed with all things TUPE.

There’s not an (ETO) reason in sight why you would want to miss out!

To book your place, or to see more details about course content, please click here. We look forward to seeing you there.

• Government reforms (1): Restrictive covenants – call for evidence
• Government reforms (2): Immigration Act 2016 – Clamping down on illegal working
• Criminal records checks: Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) workforce guidance
• Case update (1):  Sickness absence – Pull a sickie at your peril
• Case update (2): Sickness absence – Beware insensitive contact
• Case update (3): Contracts of employment – Watch out for inadvertent variations