Guidance Leaflet: Supporting Good Practice In Managing Employment Relations
Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations
Guidance Leaflet
This leaflet is to ensure the Company complies with relevant employment law from recruitment stage through working life of the role to the end of role.
The first part is about recruitment & selection
Guidance Leaflet
Two internal and two external factors which can impact on employment relationships are: * Internal you need to make sure your job description and job specification is correct, it complies with all the employment laws and is none discriminating there is an appropriate timescale for applications to be received and the deadline isn’t changed and no application are accepted after the deadline then that the selection process is fair and again …show more content…
is non-discriminating making sure you stick to the job specification throughout the process and that you record feedback for those who require or ask for it .
…show more content…
* External you have to think about the job advertisement how much it will cost, were you would put it for how long, that it complies again with all the employment laws and is non discriminating that the advert is in plain text that there are no abriviations or jargin that could stop people applying and maybe have it available in other languages if possible, also once offer has been given and accepted you need to make sure the offer and contracts are all written correctly and all the information is correct and what you have offered them verbally and that you retain a copy of the letter and contract with the interview packs and that the non successful candidates are informed and given clear feedback and none discriminating and if required a copy sent to them.
3 different types of employment and reasons why it is important to clearly determine an individual’s employment status:- * Full Time- Work for the business under our contract and following out T&C * Agency- Temporary workers, short term contracts * Contractors- Owns own company or works for another consultancy firm not covered by our contracts
Reasons
Employees gain benefit from a number of statutory rights, such as protection with regard to unfair dismissal, the right to maternity leave and the right to parental leave * Employees are subject to the unwritten general obligations implied into all contracts of employment * When employees, rather than self-employed persons, are engaged, employers are required by statue to deduce tax under Schedule E as well as social security contributions. In addition NIC to protect against personal injury claims * Vicarious liability – applies to employees but not self-employed
Distinguishing employees from other types of worker * Outsourcing * Fixed term or indefinite contract * Part-time * Covered by less favourable treatment * Detriment and dismissal * Many internal and external factors influence the employment relationship * Employment status is the base for all employment law
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~aew6/Courses/People%20and%20Quality/peoqa.html
Employee rights during employment
Employee rights during employment
Working Time * Working Time Regulations (1998)
The major rights they include are as follows: * A working week limited to a maximum of 48 (averaged over 17 weeks) * Four weeks paid annual leave per year (in addition to bank holidays) * A limitation on night working to eight hours in any one 24-hour period * 11 hours rest break in any one shift of employment * An uninterrupted break of 24 hours in any one seven-day period * A 20-minute rest break in any shift of six hours of more * Regular free health assessments to establish fitness for night working
Maternity
* Time off for ante-natal care – must be allowed if appointment advised by doctor or other * Should be paid time off * Ordinary maternity leave (26 weeks) and additional maternity leave (26 weeks), calculated as being periods before and after the ‘expected week of childbirth’ * Statutory maternity pay - first 39 weeks of maternity leave, (it is the government’s intention to eventually extend this the 52 weeks) * Must have been employed by the same employer for 26weeks proceeding the 14th week before the baby is due and must have been earning at least at or above the lowest earnings limit for the payment of NI (£128.73 per week from April 2011) for at least 8 weeks
Parental Leave * Continuous employed for year – has – or expect to have responsibility for a child is entitled to be absent from work on parental leave for the purposes of caring for that child * Less than 5 years old – once 5 the entitlement ceases * Exceptions * Adoption – ceases on fifth anniversary of the adoption * Child is in receipt of disability allowance- upper age limit of 18 applies * Employer exercises right to postpone parental leave * An employee is entitled to 13 weeks leave in respect of any individual child * Time off for dependants
Paternity leave * Introduced by the Employment Act 2002 and the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 (amended 2006) * A least 26 weeks continuous service * Ending with the week immediately preceding the 14th week before the expected week of childbirth * Employer is the father of the child or married to the partner of the child’s mother * Responsibility for bringing up the child
Adoption leave * An employee is entitled to adoption leave if the employee is: * The child’s adopter * Has been in continuous employment for a period of not less than 26 weeks ending with the week the match is made * Has notified the agency of placement and date
* Ordinary adoption - two options * Additional * Premature ending
Time off for dependants * Section 57A ERA 1996 – entitled to reasonable time off * Provide assistance when dependant fall ill, gives birth or is injured or assaulted * Make arrangements for the provision of care on the above * in the consequence of death of a dependant * Because of unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements of care * To deal with an incident that involves a child of the employee
National Minimum Wage & Equal Pay * The gross amount of wages or salary * The amount of any variable or fixed term deductions and the purpose for which they are made * The law gives a woman the right to be paid the same as a man (and vice-versa)
Pay and Sickness * In the absence of an express term in the contract of employment, the correct approach to determining whether there is an obligation upon the employer to pay wages to an employee absent through sickness is to look at all the facts and circumstances to see whether such a term can be implied * The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and SSP Act 1994 make employers responsible for paying SSP within the
EU * SSP will be paid for up to 28 weeks absence ( single period of entitlement) as well as Class 1 NI contributions, married women and widows paying reduced contributions are eligible to SSP * Part-Time who earn more than the lower earnings limit (£95 pw in 2009) are treated the same as Full-Time employees * No minimum time of service qualification * Rate – SSP is £81.60 per week however, * Duty to keep records * For the first 6 weeks at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit * For the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of either the standard rate of £128.73, or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings
Work life Balance * Work life balance is important in any organization and needs to be maintained with in the organisation this can be done in the following ways * Making sure you are complying to the law * Your flexible and you support the employee
It has also shown that a good work life balance can improve motivation and moral
Flexible working is probably the best way for an organisation to offer work-life balance to its staff.
Equality
* The Act consolidates nine separate pieces of anti-discrimination legislation into a single Act * updates and amends existing strands of anti-discrimination law, but does not completely re-codify it – so that some differences between the strands remain * creates a new single equality duty on public bodies * extends the scope for positive action with a new provision relating to recruitment or promotion * supports equal pay between men and women by banning secrecy clauses in contracts of employment * Allows for wider equality objectives to be included in tenders for public sector contracts.
The reason we adopt these family friendly legislations is because a happy workforce is a productive workforce and a productive workforce means a higher turnover and generator for money and products.
Discrimination
What is discrimination? * According to Naires (1999) to discriminate is to…‘single someone out for a special favour or disfavour’ * Three types of discrimination recognised under UK law * Direct * Indirect * Victimisation
Direct Discrimination * Less favourable treatment * Harassment - ‘unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating that other person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating , or offensive environment’ * Section 4A SDA 1975 – outlaws harassment in the form of verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature * Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Indirect Discrimination * Employer applies a requirement or condition which would apply to a person not of the same sex. * ‘requirement or condition’ – obligation of service * Can comply – can comply in practice * Disproportionate * Causes of detriment * Justification * Victimisation * Lawful discrimination – Genuine Occupational Requirement
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 * Applies to women and men and married people (s3) but not single * Unlawful for a person to discriminate against another on the basis of the other persons: * Discrimination on the grounds of marital status * Direct discrimination * Indirect discrimination * victimisation * Harassment * Dress codes have been a contentious issue in this context – is it direct discrimination for an employee to have different rules of dress and appearance for male and female employees? Courts say that it is not direct discrimination as long as the dress code has a common standard of smartness and conventionality
Harassment
Harassment is defined as: ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual'.(CIPD)
Sexual Harassment * Can amount to direct discrimination * Less favourable treatment * Detriment * EC Recommendation on the Protection of the Dignity and Men at Work 1991 defines sexual harassment as ‘ unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, or other conduct based on sex affecting the physical, verbal or non verbal conduct * Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 * The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 * legal definition, harassment is defined as: * When unwanted conduct takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Victimisation
This occurs when an employee is treated less favorably because they have made or supported a complaint related to the Act, or they are suspected of doing so, for example, it could be preventing you from going on training courses, taking unfair disciplinary action against you, or excluding you from company social events.
Psychological Contract
The psychological contract includes the perceptions of employer and employee of what their mutual obligations are towards each other and can be distinguished from the legal contract of employment which may offer only a limited and uncertain representation of the reality of the employment relationship.
The psychological contract can be distinguished from the legal contract of employment. The latter will, in many cases, offer only a limited and uncertain representation of the reality of the employment relationship. The employee may have contributed little to its terms beyond accepting them.
The psychological contract on the other hand looks at the reality of the situation as perceived by the parties, and may be more influential than the formal contract in affecting how employees behave from day to day. It is the psychological contract that effectively tells employees what they are required to do in order to meet their side of the bargain and what they can expect from their job. It may not - indeed in general it will not - be strictly enforceable, though courts may be influenced by a view of the underlying relationship between employer and employee, for example in interpreting the common law duty to show mutual trust and confidence. (CIPD 28/12/2011)
Termination/Redundancies
Fair and unfair dismissal http://www.paralegaladvice.org.za/docs/chap06/15.html Dismissal of an employee occurs when: * the employer terminates the contract, either with or without giving notice * a fixed term contract ends and is not renewed * The employee leaves, with or without giving notice, in circumstances in which they are entitled to do so because of the employer’s conduct.
Unfair dismissal
The law on unfair dismissal is principally contained in The Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended). Recent important amendments to the Employment Rights Act have been made as follows: * The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 - introduced procedures relating to employee retirement. * The Employment Act 2008 - repealing the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedures. (This Act does not apply in Northern Ireland.)
The basis of unfair dismissal law is that employees have the right to be treated fairly. In making a claim of unfair dismissal the employee needs to be able to demonstrate that s/he was dismissed, and that this dismissal was not fair for a specific reason.
There are five potentially fair reasons for dismissal. To be fair, a dismissal must be for one of these reasons: * capability or qualifications * conduct * illegality or contravention of a statutory duty * some other substantial reason * redundancy
Fairness
As well as falling within one of the potentially fair reasons given above, an employer must also have acted fairly and reasonably in taking that reason as sufficient for dismissing the employee. This is more complex than it sounds, although it should always be borne in mind that an employment tribunal still has wide discretion on what it considers 'fair'.
Exit Interviews
Obtaining accurate information on reasons for leaving can be difficult. It is important to appreciate that the reasons people give for their resignations are frequently untrue or only partially true. Individuals are likely to be reluctant to voice criticism of their managers, colleagues or the organisation generally, preferring to give some less contentious reason for their departure.
Here at Ai we conduct face-to-face exit interviews as well as give the employee an electronic one to fill out, sometime the face-to-face interviews are not appropriate if the member of staff is disgruntled in any way.
Obviously the style of exit interview is different for someone who is being asked to leave, retiring, being made redundant, dismissed, or leaving under a cloud, compared to an employee leaving whom the organization would prefer to retain. However everyone who leaves should be given the opportunity of an exit interview, and the organization can learn something from every situation. In certain situations (where appropriate) the exit interview also provides a last chance to change a person's mind, although this should not be the main aim of the exit interview situation.
Take action as necessary, depending on your processes for analysing and reporting exit interview feedback. If there's an urgent issue, or the person wants to stay and you want to keep them, then act immediately or the opportunity will be lost.
Redundancies
It is preferable for an organisation to establish a formal procedure on redundancy. In many organisations a formal agreement may have been negotiated and agreed between management and trade union or employee representatives.
At the very least, in order to plan and implement a redundancy situation properly the following stages will be followed in most redundancies: * planning * identifying the pool for selection * seeking volunteers * consulting employees * selection * appeals and dismissals * suitable alternative employment * redundancy payment * Counseling and support.
Of course the exact procedure varies according to the timescale and size of the redundancy. The core points concerning these stages are summarised below.
Planning
Organisations should always attempt to avoid redundancies. Ways of doing this include: * natural wastage * recruitment freezes * stopping or reducing overtime * offering early retirement to volunteers (subject to age discrimination issues) * retraining or redeployment * offering existing employees sabbaticals and secondments * pay freezes * short-time working * pay cuts in return for taking time off work * ‘Alternatives to redundancy’ (ATR) schemes (also referred to as ’sabbaticals’) in which employees do not work for their employer for a specified period and are free to seek new work whilst receiving an ATR allowance.
If the redundancy involves more than 20 employees the employer is required to complete form HR1 and send it to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Identifying the pool for selection
The group from which employees will be selected for redundancy (the selection pool) must be very carefully identified. It will usually consist of those who undertake a similar type of work, those in a particular department, those who work at a relevant location, or those whose work has ceased or diminished or is expected to do so. In many redundancies, a range of different selection pools may be identified. If an employer makes redundancies without considering a selection pool correctly, the dismissals will be unfair.
Seeking volunteers
As part of the overall procedure, once the need for redundancies has been identified and careful planning has taken place, offering a voluntary redundancy package and then seeking willing redundancy volunteers may avoid compulsory redundancies altogether.
Consulting employees
Collective consultations with recognised trade unions or elected representatives must start at least 90 days beforehand for proposed redundancy dismissals of 100 or more employees and at least 30 days before notification of redundancies for 20–99 employees. Where collective consultation is required it must be completed before notice of dismissal is given to any of the employees concerned. The law requires meaningful consultation - it is not enough only to inform. The maximum compensation that can be awarded if an employer fails to consult is 90 days' pay. If there are no recognised trade unions or employee representatives, the employer must facilitate the election of representatives by the employees for the redundancy consultation.
At the start of the consultation process the employer is legally obliged to give the following information to the representatives: * the reason for the redundancy dismissals * the number of proposed redundancies and their job types * the total number of employees affected * the proposed methods of selection * the procedure to be followed in dealing with the redundancies * The method of calculating redundancy payment.
Employers are also required to consult individual employees and give them reasonable warning of impending redundancy.
Selection Where there is a choice between employees, selection must be based on objective criteria which may include: * length of service (only as one of a number of criteria) * attendance records * disciplinary records * skills, competencies and qualifications * work experience * Performance records.
Appeals and dismissals
Once the selection and consultation is complete individuals selected for redundancy should be notified in writing that they are ‘at risk’ of being made redundant. They should be invited to a meeting to discuss this, which is the first part of the individual consultation which is legally required.
This should be followed by at least one further consultation meeting. The actual number of meetings will depend on what the employee has to say. The employer must be seen to consider any argument that the employee puts forward.
Once the individual consultation has been completed a decision has to be made on whether or not the employee is to be made redundant. If they are, then they must be informed in writing and be given an explanation of the redundancy payment that they will receive.
It is good practice to allow an employee to appeal against the decision to make them redundant.
An employee is entitled to be accompanied at all individual consultation meetings by a trade union representative or colleague.
It is automatically unfair to select employees for redundancy for a number of reasons, including: * trade union membership (or non-membership) * part-time status * pregnancy or maternity-related reasons
In addition, selection for redundancy because of an employee’s age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, race or religion or any other protected characteristic will constitute a breach of the Equality Act 2010.
Employees must be given notice of their redundancy – statutory notice or contractual notice, whichever is greater.
Suitable alternative employment
Employers must consider offering suitable alternative work and are expected to look for alternatives throughout the organisation. The law removes entitlement to a statutory redundancy payment if an employee unreasonably refuses a suitable alternative. An employee is entitled to a four week trial period in a new role. If the employer and employee then agree that the role is not a suitable alternative, the employee reverts to being made redundant. The law requires employees who have at least two years’ service to be given paid time off to look for work during the final notice period.
Redundancy payment
Dismissed employees with two or more years’ service are entitled to a minimum redundancy payment based on a formula similar to the basic award for unfair dismissal. There is a maximum statutory payment.
REFERENCING
Internet
CIPD website http://www.cipd.co.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work%E2%80%93life_balance#Responsibility_of_the_employer
Intranet
Images
Clip art http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~aew6/Courses/People%20and%20Quality/peoqa.html http://www.paralegaladvice.org.za/docs/chap06/15.html
Guidance Leaflet
This leaflet is to ensure the Company complies with relevant employment law from recruitment stage through working life of the role to the end of role.
The first part is about recruitment & selection
Guidance Leaflet
Two internal and two external factors which can impact on employment relationships are: * Internal you need to make sure your job description and job specification is correct, it complies with all the employment laws and is none discriminating there is an appropriate timescale for applications to be received and the deadline isn’t changed and no application are accepted after the deadline then that the selection process is fair and again …show more content…
is non-discriminating making sure you stick to the job specification throughout the process and that you record feedback for those who require or ask for it .
…show more content…
* External you have to think about the job advertisement how much it will cost, were you would put it for how long, that it complies again with all the employment laws and is non discriminating that the advert is in plain text that there are no abriviations or jargin that could stop people applying and maybe have it available in other languages if possible, also once offer has been given and accepted you need to make sure the offer and contracts are all written correctly and all the information is correct and what you have offered them verbally and that you retain a copy of the letter and contract with the interview packs and that the non successful candidates are informed and given clear feedback and none discriminating and if required a copy sent to them.
3 different types of employment and reasons why it is important to clearly determine an individual’s employment status:- * Full Time- Work for the business under our contract and following out T&C * Agency- Temporary workers, short term contracts * Contractors- Owns own company or works for another consultancy firm not covered by our contracts
Reasons
Employees gain benefit from a number of statutory rights, such as protection with regard to unfair dismissal, the right to maternity leave and the right to parental leave * Employees are subject to the unwritten general obligations implied into all contracts of employment * When employees, rather than self-employed persons, are engaged, employers are required by statue to deduce tax under Schedule E as well as social security contributions. In addition NIC to protect against personal injury claims * Vicarious liability – applies to employees but not self-employed
Distinguishing employees from other types of worker * Outsourcing * Fixed term or indefinite contract * Part-time * Covered by less favourable treatment * Detriment and dismissal * Many internal and external factors influence the employment relationship * Employment status is the base for all employment law
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~aew6/Courses/People%20and%20Quality/peoqa.html
Employee rights during employment
Employee rights during employment
Working Time * Working Time Regulations (1998)
The major rights they include are as follows: * A working week limited to a maximum of 48 (averaged over 17 weeks) * Four weeks paid annual leave per year (in addition to bank holidays) * A limitation on night working to eight hours in any one 24-hour period * 11 hours rest break in any one shift of employment * An uninterrupted break of 24 hours in any one seven-day period * A 20-minute rest break in any shift of six hours of more * Regular free health assessments to establish fitness for night working
Maternity
* Time off for ante-natal care – must be allowed if appointment advised by doctor or other * Should be paid time off * Ordinary maternity leave (26 weeks) and additional maternity leave (26 weeks), calculated as being periods before and after the ‘expected week of childbirth’ * Statutory maternity pay - first 39 weeks of maternity leave, (it is the government’s intention to eventually extend this the 52 weeks) * Must have been employed by the same employer for 26weeks proceeding the 14th week before the baby is due and must have been earning at least at or above the lowest earnings limit for the payment of NI (£128.73 per week from April 2011) for at least 8 weeks
Parental Leave * Continuous employed for year – has – or expect to have responsibility for a child is entitled to be absent from work on parental leave for the purposes of caring for that child * Less than 5 years old – once 5 the entitlement ceases * Exceptions * Adoption – ceases on fifth anniversary of the adoption * Child is in receipt of disability allowance- upper age limit of 18 applies * Employer exercises right to postpone parental leave * An employee is entitled to 13 weeks leave in respect of any individual child * Time off for dependants
Paternity leave * Introduced by the Employment Act 2002 and the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 (amended 2006) * A least 26 weeks continuous service * Ending with the week immediately preceding the 14th week before the expected week of childbirth * Employer is the father of the child or married to the partner of the child’s mother * Responsibility for bringing up the child
Adoption leave * An employee is entitled to adoption leave if the employee is: * The child’s adopter * Has been in continuous employment for a period of not less than 26 weeks ending with the week the match is made * Has notified the agency of placement and date
* Ordinary adoption - two options * Additional * Premature ending
Time off for dependants * Section 57A ERA 1996 – entitled to reasonable time off * Provide assistance when dependant fall ill, gives birth or is injured or assaulted * Make arrangements for the provision of care on the above * in the consequence of death of a dependant * Because of unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements of care * To deal with an incident that involves a child of the employee
National Minimum Wage & Equal Pay * The gross amount of wages or salary * The amount of any variable or fixed term deductions and the purpose for which they are made * The law gives a woman the right to be paid the same as a man (and vice-versa)
Pay and Sickness * In the absence of an express term in the contract of employment, the correct approach to determining whether there is an obligation upon the employer to pay wages to an employee absent through sickness is to look at all the facts and circumstances to see whether such a term can be implied * The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and SSP Act 1994 make employers responsible for paying SSP within the
EU * SSP will be paid for up to 28 weeks absence ( single period of entitlement) as well as Class 1 NI contributions, married women and widows paying reduced contributions are eligible to SSP * Part-Time who earn more than the lower earnings limit (£95 pw in 2009) are treated the same as Full-Time employees * No minimum time of service qualification * Rate – SSP is £81.60 per week however, * Duty to keep records * For the first 6 weeks at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit * For the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of either the standard rate of £128.73, or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings
Work life Balance * Work life balance is important in any organization and needs to be maintained with in the organisation this can be done in the following ways * Making sure you are complying to the law * Your flexible and you support the employee
It has also shown that a good work life balance can improve motivation and moral
Flexible working is probably the best way for an organisation to offer work-life balance to its staff.
Equality
* The Act consolidates nine separate pieces of anti-discrimination legislation into a single Act * updates and amends existing strands of anti-discrimination law, but does not completely re-codify it – so that some differences between the strands remain * creates a new single equality duty on public bodies * extends the scope for positive action with a new provision relating to recruitment or promotion * supports equal pay between men and women by banning secrecy clauses in contracts of employment * Allows for wider equality objectives to be included in tenders for public sector contracts.
The reason we adopt these family friendly legislations is because a happy workforce is a productive workforce and a productive workforce means a higher turnover and generator for money and products.
Discrimination
What is discrimination? * According to Naires (1999) to discriminate is to…‘single someone out for a special favour or disfavour’ * Three types of discrimination recognised under UK law * Direct * Indirect * Victimisation
Direct Discrimination * Less favourable treatment * Harassment - ‘unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating that other person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating , or offensive environment’ * Section 4A SDA 1975 – outlaws harassment in the form of verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature * Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Indirect Discrimination * Employer applies a requirement or condition which would apply to a person not of the same sex. * ‘requirement or condition’ – obligation of service * Can comply – can comply in practice * Disproportionate * Causes of detriment * Justification * Victimisation * Lawful discrimination – Genuine Occupational Requirement
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 * Applies to women and men and married people (s3) but not single * Unlawful for a person to discriminate against another on the basis of the other persons: * Discrimination on the grounds of marital status * Direct discrimination * Indirect discrimination * victimisation * Harassment * Dress codes have been a contentious issue in this context – is it direct discrimination for an employee to have different rules of dress and appearance for male and female employees? Courts say that it is not direct discrimination as long as the dress code has a common standard of smartness and conventionality
Harassment
Harassment is defined as: ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual'.(CIPD)
Sexual Harassment * Can amount to direct discrimination * Less favourable treatment * Detriment * EC Recommendation on the Protection of the Dignity and Men at Work 1991 defines sexual harassment as ‘ unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, or other conduct based on sex affecting the physical, verbal or non verbal conduct * Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 * The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 * legal definition, harassment is defined as: * When unwanted conduct takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Victimisation
This occurs when an employee is treated less favorably because they have made or supported a complaint related to the Act, or they are suspected of doing so, for example, it could be preventing you from going on training courses, taking unfair disciplinary action against you, or excluding you from company social events.
Psychological Contract
The psychological contract includes the perceptions of employer and employee of what their mutual obligations are towards each other and can be distinguished from the legal contract of employment which may offer only a limited and uncertain representation of the reality of the employment relationship.
The psychological contract can be distinguished from the legal contract of employment. The latter will, in many cases, offer only a limited and uncertain representation of the reality of the employment relationship. The employee may have contributed little to its terms beyond accepting them.
The psychological contract on the other hand looks at the reality of the situation as perceived by the parties, and may be more influential than the formal contract in affecting how employees behave from day to day. It is the psychological contract that effectively tells employees what they are required to do in order to meet their side of the bargain and what they can expect from their job. It may not - indeed in general it will not - be strictly enforceable, though courts may be influenced by a view of the underlying relationship between employer and employee, for example in interpreting the common law duty to show mutual trust and confidence. (CIPD 28/12/2011)
Termination/Redundancies
Fair and unfair dismissal http://www.paralegaladvice.org.za/docs/chap06/15.html Dismissal of an employee occurs when: * the employer terminates the contract, either with or without giving notice * a fixed term contract ends and is not renewed * The employee leaves, with or without giving notice, in circumstances in which they are entitled to do so because of the employer’s conduct.
Unfair dismissal
The law on unfair dismissal is principally contained in The Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended). Recent important amendments to the Employment Rights Act have been made as follows: * The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 - introduced procedures relating to employee retirement. * The Employment Act 2008 - repealing the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedures. (This Act does not apply in Northern Ireland.)
The basis of unfair dismissal law is that employees have the right to be treated fairly. In making a claim of unfair dismissal the employee needs to be able to demonstrate that s/he was dismissed, and that this dismissal was not fair for a specific reason.
There are five potentially fair reasons for dismissal. To be fair, a dismissal must be for one of these reasons: * capability or qualifications * conduct * illegality or contravention of a statutory duty * some other substantial reason * redundancy
Fairness
As well as falling within one of the potentially fair reasons given above, an employer must also have acted fairly and reasonably in taking that reason as sufficient for dismissing the employee. This is more complex than it sounds, although it should always be borne in mind that an employment tribunal still has wide discretion on what it considers 'fair'.
Exit Interviews
Obtaining accurate information on reasons for leaving can be difficult. It is important to appreciate that the reasons people give for their resignations are frequently untrue or only partially true. Individuals are likely to be reluctant to voice criticism of their managers, colleagues or the organisation generally, preferring to give some less contentious reason for their departure.
Here at Ai we conduct face-to-face exit interviews as well as give the employee an electronic one to fill out, sometime the face-to-face interviews are not appropriate if the member of staff is disgruntled in any way.
Obviously the style of exit interview is different for someone who is being asked to leave, retiring, being made redundant, dismissed, or leaving under a cloud, compared to an employee leaving whom the organization would prefer to retain. However everyone who leaves should be given the opportunity of an exit interview, and the organization can learn something from every situation. In certain situations (where appropriate) the exit interview also provides a last chance to change a person's mind, although this should not be the main aim of the exit interview situation.
Take action as necessary, depending on your processes for analysing and reporting exit interview feedback. If there's an urgent issue, or the person wants to stay and you want to keep them, then act immediately or the opportunity will be lost.
Redundancies
It is preferable for an organisation to establish a formal procedure on redundancy. In many organisations a formal agreement may have been negotiated and agreed between management and trade union or employee representatives.
At the very least, in order to plan and implement a redundancy situation properly the following stages will be followed in most redundancies: * planning * identifying the pool for selection * seeking volunteers * consulting employees * selection * appeals and dismissals * suitable alternative employment * redundancy payment * Counseling and support.
Of course the exact procedure varies according to the timescale and size of the redundancy. The core points concerning these stages are summarised below.
Planning
Organisations should always attempt to avoid redundancies. Ways of doing this include: * natural wastage * recruitment freezes * stopping or reducing overtime * offering early retirement to volunteers (subject to age discrimination issues) * retraining or redeployment * offering existing employees sabbaticals and secondments * pay freezes * short-time working * pay cuts in return for taking time off work * ‘Alternatives to redundancy’ (ATR) schemes (also referred to as ’sabbaticals’) in which employees do not work for their employer for a specified period and are free to seek new work whilst receiving an ATR allowance.
If the redundancy involves more than 20 employees the employer is required to complete form HR1 and send it to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Identifying the pool for selection
The group from which employees will be selected for redundancy (the selection pool) must be very carefully identified. It will usually consist of those who undertake a similar type of work, those in a particular department, those who work at a relevant location, or those whose work has ceased or diminished or is expected to do so. In many redundancies, a range of different selection pools may be identified. If an employer makes redundancies without considering a selection pool correctly, the dismissals will be unfair.
Seeking volunteers
As part of the overall procedure, once the need for redundancies has been identified and careful planning has taken place, offering a voluntary redundancy package and then seeking willing redundancy volunteers may avoid compulsory redundancies altogether.
Consulting employees
Collective consultations with recognised trade unions or elected representatives must start at least 90 days beforehand for proposed redundancy dismissals of 100 or more employees and at least 30 days before notification of redundancies for 20–99 employees. Where collective consultation is required it must be completed before notice of dismissal is given to any of the employees concerned. The law requires meaningful consultation - it is not enough only to inform. The maximum compensation that can be awarded if an employer fails to consult is 90 days' pay. If there are no recognised trade unions or employee representatives, the employer must facilitate the election of representatives by the employees for the redundancy consultation.
At the start of the consultation process the employer is legally obliged to give the following information to the representatives: * the reason for the redundancy dismissals * the number of proposed redundancies and their job types * the total number of employees affected * the proposed methods of selection * the procedure to be followed in dealing with the redundancies * The method of calculating redundancy payment.
Employers are also required to consult individual employees and give them reasonable warning of impending redundancy.
Selection Where there is a choice between employees, selection must be based on objective criteria which may include: * length of service (only as one of a number of criteria) * attendance records * disciplinary records * skills, competencies and qualifications * work experience * Performance records.
Appeals and dismissals
Once the selection and consultation is complete individuals selected for redundancy should be notified in writing that they are ‘at risk’ of being made redundant. They should be invited to a meeting to discuss this, which is the first part of the individual consultation which is legally required.
This should be followed by at least one further consultation meeting. The actual number of meetings will depend on what the employee has to say. The employer must be seen to consider any argument that the employee puts forward.
Once the individual consultation has been completed a decision has to be made on whether or not the employee is to be made redundant. If they are, then they must be informed in writing and be given an explanation of the redundancy payment that they will receive.
It is good practice to allow an employee to appeal against the decision to make them redundant.
An employee is entitled to be accompanied at all individual consultation meetings by a trade union representative or colleague.
It is automatically unfair to select employees for redundancy for a number of reasons, including: * trade union membership (or non-membership) * part-time status * pregnancy or maternity-related reasons
In addition, selection for redundancy because of an employee’s age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, race or religion or any other protected characteristic will constitute a breach of the Equality Act 2010.
Employees must be given notice of their redundancy – statutory notice or contractual notice, whichever is greater.
Suitable alternative employment
Employers must consider offering suitable alternative work and are expected to look for alternatives throughout the organisation. The law removes entitlement to a statutory redundancy payment if an employee unreasonably refuses a suitable alternative. An employee is entitled to a four week trial period in a new role. If the employer and employee then agree that the role is not a suitable alternative, the employee reverts to being made redundant. The law requires employees who have at least two years’ service to be given paid time off to look for work during the final notice period.
Redundancy payment
Dismissed employees with two or more years’ service are entitled to a minimum redundancy payment based on a formula similar to the basic award for unfair dismissal. There is a maximum statutory payment.
REFERENCING
Internet
CIPD website http://www.cipd.co.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work%E2%80%93life_balance#Responsibility_of_the_employer
Intranet
Images
Clip art http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~aew6/Courses/People%20and%20Quality/peoqa.html http://www.paralegaladvice.org.za/docs/chap06/15.html