How much notice to change working hours?
Making a change to a term in an employee’s contract, such as changing working hours, is called a ‘variation of contract.’ If their contract contains an agreed number of hours they are to work each week, then you cannot arbitrarily reduce them. You must follow a fair procedure to change contract terms and ensure you […]
Lone Working Rules (Advice for Employers)
In this guide for employers, we explain the law in the UK relating to lone working, from the protection that those working alone or in isolated conditions should be afforded, to the importance of putting in place a lone worker policy and what this should include. What are lone workers? A lone worker is anyone […]
Sponsor Licence Change of Circumstances
Given the business-critical nature of sponsoring migrant workers, careful and effective management of your sponsor licence is essential to avoid Home Office enforcement action that could impact your operations. As a UK sponsor licence holder, either under the Workers and Temporary Workers routes, you must ensure you have the necessary HR processes in place to […]
Wrongful dismissal: employer guidance
Legal issues surrounding the dismissal of an employee can quickly become costly and difficult to resolve. Wrongful dismissal claims present a specific set of challenges but are often confused with unfair dismissal. It’s important for employers to understand the distinction between these two types of dismissal, and what this means for avoiding and handling wrongful […]
HR1 form: redundancy notification
If your organisation has to make more than 20 people redundant, the Secretary of State must be notified of this intention. Failure to do so without justification may result in prosecution and/or a fine for the company or any of its officers. Advance notification of the redundancies is made using the HR1 Form. If you are […]
Zero Hour Contract Notice Period
Notice periods can be difficult to navigate, particularly in relation to zero-hours contract workers. It is important for employers to remember that, in spite of the flexibility a zero-hours arrangement can bring to your organisation, the individuals who work for you in this way are nevertheless entitled to rights relating to pay, annual leave and […]
Offering voluntary redundancy
Employers should consider all workforce options before pursuing compulsory redundancies. This includes offering voluntary redundancy. As a way to reduce headcount, ‘self-selection’ for redundancy can bring a number of benefits. Voluntary redundancies are generally more straightforward to deal with than compulsory redundancies, and entail less stress and animosity between the employer and affected employees. This […]
Dependency leave: guide for employers
This guide for employers looks at the rules relating to dependency leave, including who counts as a dependant and how best to manage requests for dependency leave. What is dependency leave? By law, the employee has relatively limited statutory rights when it comes to dependency leave, although establishing exactly when and to what extent these […]
Without prejudice & protected conversations
Without prejudice and protected conversations have become an essential part of the HR toolkit, but they have to be used with care to avoid further issues arising. If you are looking to bring an employee’s contract of employment to an end, you may want to have an off the record chat with a view to […]
Resolving pay disputes (HR guide)
Pay disputes at work require swift action on the part of the employer to understand the reason for the complaint, and to identify and rectify any issues or errors. The following guide on pay disputes sets out employees’ rights and entitlement to pay and the basis upon which a claim for unpaid wages could be […]