The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has recently launched a campaign to clamp down on employment agencies who are not registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. Employment and recruitment agencies will inevitably hold personal details on file for clients and candidates which may include their skill set and work experience, as this information is used […]
Employment Law Roundup Cap on redundancy pay under the new Enterprise Act Public sector accounts for 2013/2014 show that £1.8 billion had been paid out in exit payments. A number of “golden parachutes” were in excess of £100,000. To address the implications of dipping into the dwindling public purse, the Enterprise Act seeks to limit […]
In the second part of its combined tax debate and seminar event held on 23rd September, Lawspeed welcomed a senior civil servant from the department of Business, Innovation and Skills to talk about BIS’ stance on government regulation and standards. “We felt that our attendees would want to have some insight into the direction the […]
In May 2014, the European Court of Justice clarified that if workers are paid commission as part of their remuneration, commission must be included when calculating holiday pay (see Lock v British Gas). This was confirmed by the Employment Tribunal (ET) during a two day hearing in February this year. However, the ET decision did […]
National Minimum Wage increase From Thursday 1st October 2015, the adult rate of the National Minimum Wage (‘NMW’) has risen from £6.50 to £6.70 per hour, a rise of 20 pence. The following NMW rates apply: The rate for 18 to 20 years olds has increased by 17 pence to £5.30 per hour The rate […]
The government has recently published the Immigration Bill 2015-16 (which can be accessed here.) The Bill implements a number of the policies which were introduced in the Conservative Party Manifesto, such as measures to tackle illegal working and support the enforcement of labour market rules. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced that […]
The Immigration Bill, which was published on 17th September 2015, introduced a new legal requirement for all public sector employees who work in a public-facing role to speak ‘fluent English’. This will include social workers, police officers, teaching staff and assistants, Jobcentre Plus workers and local government employees. The recent requirement will apply to both […]
“Could HMRC proposals affect the flexible workforce?” was the topic of the debate at a meeting held by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) on 23rd September in London, and on a show of hands every attendee thought it would. The debate, attended by two speakers from HMRC, a Treasury representative, and speakers from the […]
Earlier this year the Advocate General recommended that travel time to the first customer and from the last customer is to be considered “working time” for mobile workers. The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has now brought this non-binding recommendation into law. (Click here for those who would like to refresh their […]
Social media is an increasingly popular and growing area due to the number of benefits it offers to businesses, ranging from the ability to communicate with a wide audience, to using it for recruitment purposes. Recent case law demonstrates the importance to employers of having a clear social media policy in place, to ensure that […]
