As employers, we have written rules, regulations and expectations for our employees’ conduct when in the workplace, which an employee agrees to when signing their Contract of Employment (in conjunction with the Company Handbook, where applicable). Conduct that does not meet these standards can result in disciplinary action and can even be grounds for dismissal.
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Many UK small businesses and organisations are suffering from severe labour shortages, attributed to both the pandemic, and the new immigration laws that came into effect when the UK left the European Union. Employers have called for the government to address these shortages by making adjustments to their visa policies (for example, to allow HGV
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In April and May, we wrote about the practicalities and legalities of moving to a hybrid model of working – the practice of working from home for part of the week, and from the workplace for the rest of the week – and how it was being regarded, by many, as a far more practical
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With the end of the furlough scheme approaching (on 30th September 2021) many organisations may find themselves in a position where their existing employment terms and conditions are no longer viable. A decades-old practice, receiving much publicity recently, is ‘Dismissal and Re-engagement’, more commonly known as ‘Fire and Rehire’; so much so that the Department
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Looking out of the window as I write this it is apparent that summer is fast approaching, and with it, the traditional holiday period and the long school summer break. We remain hopeful that the COVID-19 restrictions will continue to ease, including those imposed on international travel, albeit with the traffic light system in place,
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Inspired by the global disruption to traditional working practices caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, is a hybrid model of working where employees work part-time from the workplace and part-time from home, suited to your organisation? In last month’s blog post, we looked at the overriding changes organisations would need to consider when making the shift
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The global, government-initiated responses to Covid-19 have meant that many organisations have had to close their offices indefinitely, with many employees moving to homeworking. This massive change brought to the forefront the need to adjust processes, to embrace digital communications, and, through a situation rarely dealt with prior to the pandemic – the need to
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The global occurrence of Covid-19 and the subsequent restrictions, regulations, safeguards and now vaccines created to combat it have raised many discussions on workplace health and safety, managing risk, personal choice and freedom, privacy, and many more that will undoubtedly develop as the year progresses. Therefore, this month’s blog is a Q&A, featuring the most
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We last wrote about Brexit in February 2020, just weeks before the world was turned on its head by a global pandemic and associated lockdowns. After dominating the headlines for months, Brexit coverage suddenly took a back seat to Covid-19. The UK transition period for leaving the EU was no longer the most urgent focus
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On 28 November 2020, changes to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) filtering rules came into effect, to remove the ‘multiple convictions rule’ and prevent the disclosure of youth cautions. Filtering rules exclude certain information about minor criminal offences from DBS certificates. These are termed ‘protected cautions’ or ‘protected convictions’. Under the previous filtering functions,
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