1. 65 + Ways Covid Has Impacted the Global Job Market
2020 was an unusual and tough year for the entire world. COVID-19 changed almost every aspect of our daily lives, including the global job market. Increasing restrictions, lost productivity, and business closures left many out of work or without employment altogether.
Countries are beginning their road to recovery, and employment levels are increasing once again, but the future of the global job market is uncertain. Just how much of a lasting impact did the pandemic leave?
We’ve put together 65+ statistics that explore the current state of the global job market and why COVID-19 might just have altered the way we work for good.
You can see the full article here.
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2. Legislation proposal - Tipping
The government has announced a proposed new law “as soon as parliamentary time allows” requiring employers to pass all tips to workers.
The legislation will require employers to pass on all tips, gratuities, and service charges to workers without any deductions. Employers will be required to distribute tips in a fair and transparent manner, where employers have control or significant influence over tip distribution.
The proposal also includes a new right for workers to make a request for information relating to an employer’s tipping record, to enable them to bring forward a credible claim to an employment tribunal.
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3. Can employers ask employees if they have had a coronavirus (COVID 19 vaccination?
An employer that intends to ask employees if they have been vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) must be clear about its reasons for doing so. To comply with its data protection obligations, it must ensure that it has a legal basis for processing such information and that it complies with the conditions for processing special category data (relating to employees' health) under the UK GDPR.
The Information Commissioner's Office has published guidance for organisations on when collecting vaccination data can be justified. Depending on its reasons for asking about vaccination status, an employer may be able to rely on its legitimate interests and compliance with employment rights and obligations as the basis for processing such data. Where vaccination is a legal requirement in a health or social care setting, employers will have a legal basis for requesting and processing data about employees' status.
Employers should consider carrying out a data protection impact assessment before collecting vaccination data.
If it does collect this personal data, the employer must ensure that it is kept securely and that it is shared only with the specific people who need to access it. It must be kept for no longer than necessary. An employer could consider keeping anonymised records, if its aim is to monitor levels of vaccination across the workforce, rather than recording whether specified individuals have been vaccinated.
The employer must provide employees with information about how and why their vaccination data is being processed. This could be an update to an existing privacy notice or could be provided as a separate document.
Employers should be aware that an attempt to impose a mandatory vaccination policy would risk a number of legal claims and employee relations issues.
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4. Plumber allowed to claim back historic unpaid holiday pay, court rules
Court of Appeal finds workers can only lose their annual paid leave entitlement if their employer has encouraged them to use it
A worker who took unpaid leave because his employer did not believe he was entitled to holiday pay has been allowed to make a claim for his statutory holiday pay entitlement for the duration of his engagement with the firm, a court has ruled.
Overturning a previous judgment from the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), brought by Gary Smith against Pimlico Plumbers, the Court of Appeal found that workers can only lose the right to roll over paid leave if their employer has been transparent about their allowance and encouraged them to take leave.
In a ruling that experts have said could be worrying for gig economy employers, Lady Justice Simler said any employer needed to “meet the burden of showing [that] it specifically and transparently gave the worker the opportunity to take paid annual leave, encouraged the worker to take paid annual leave and informed the worker that the right would be lost at the end of the leave year.
If the employer cannot meet that burden, the right (to paid leave) does not lapse (at the end of the year) but carries over and accumulates until termination of the contract she said.
The Court of Appeal also found that the worker involved had the right to claim for compensation for leave that he had taken unpaid – overturning the EAT’s ruling that he could only claim for paid leave that was untaken.
“If a worker takes unpaid leave when the employer disputes the right and refuses to pay for the leave, the worker is not exercising the right [to paid leave],” Simler said.
While workers were already able to indefinitely carry over of the untaken part of their four weeks’ paid leave entitlement – as stipulated under the European Working Time Directive – this decision meant workers can now also carry over leave that is taken but unpaid. “On termination, the employer will become responsible for payment of the whole amount,” he said.
“The decision also removes the two-year limit for the recovery of unlawful deduction from wages where an individual is denied a right to paid annual leave, provided that the claim is brought within three months of termination.
“This means that employers no longer have the backstop of believing that their exposure could be limited to just two years,”
Smith started working for Pimlico Plumbers in August 2005 with a contract that referred to him as an ‘employee’. However, Pimlico Plumbers maintained that Smith was a self-employed contractor and was therefore not entitled to holiday pay. Regardless of this, Smith decided to take periods of leave unpaid throughout his time with the firm.
Smith initially took Pimlico Plumbers to tribunal following his suspension in May 2011. He argued he was at least a worker, which would have entitled him to paid holiday, and sought to claim back compensation for his periods of unpaid leave.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that Smith was a worker and therefore entitled to paid annual leave. However, when the case then went back to the employment tribunal, it ruled that Smith’s claims for unpaid leave were out of time.
This was upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which also said that Smith could not claim for leave that was taken but unpaid – only for unpaid leave not taken.
However, the Court of Appeal found that not only was Smith “denied the opportunity to exercise the right to paid annual leave”, meaning his claim was in time, but that he was also entitled to claim compensation for unpaid leave that he had taken.
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5. Unfair Dismissal Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth v Mr P Mefful 2022 EAT 11
Was it wrong for a tribunal to consider events after a decision to dismiss had been taken, when considering an unfair dismissal claim?
Yes, held the EAT in Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth Ltd v Mefful.
The Claimant was a CAB manager who was made redundant in August 2012. He brought claims for unfair dismissal (including for a protected disclosure), disability discrimination and victimisation. The Respondent started a restructure process in February 2012. The tribunal found that the decision to dismiss the Claimant had been taken (without his knowledge) on 19th March 2012, that the Claimant lacked capability and engagement, it was a 'done deal', and everything after that date in the redundancy process had been a sham.
The Claimant became disabled in April 2012. The tribunal held that the dismissal was tainted by disability discrimination, relying on incidents from April 2012 onwards.
The EAT held that the tribunal had been wrong to consider events that took place after the decision to dismiss had been taken and so find that the dismissal was disability related, since in this case disability could not have affected the reason for dismissal.
In relation to the public interest disclosure claim, since the tribunal had found that the Claimant's dismissal was because of his lack of capability and engagement, a protected disclosure could not be the principal reason for dismissal, so that claim could not succeed. However, a victimisation claim under the Equality Act 2010 could succeed, as a protected act need only have been a significant influence on the Claimant's treatment, a point which had to be reconsidered.
The case was remitted for reconsideration of various points, after its fourth appeal to the EAT.
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6. The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS)
Final claims for the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme
The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme will close on 17 March 2022. You have until 24 March 2022 to submit any new claims for absence periods up to 17 March 2022, or to amend claims you have already submitted.
You will no longer be able to claim back Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for your employees’ coronavirus-related absences or self-isolation that occur after 17 March 2022.
From 25 March, we will return to the normal SSP rules, which means you can revert to paying SSP from the fourth qualifying day your employee is off work regardless of the reason for their sickness absence. For more information on SSP rules, search for 'Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): employer guide' on GOV.UK.
For more information on eligibility and how to make your final claims, search 'check if you can claim back Statutory Sick Pay' on GOV.UK.
Warning about scams
If someone contacts you saying they’re from HMRC and wants you to transfer money urgently or give personal information, never let yourself be rushed. There are many different types of scam. Some threaten you with immediate arrest for tax evasion, others offer a tax rebate. Do not panic. We will never phone threatening you with arrest, only criminals do that.
Take your time and check 'HMRC’s advice about scams' on GOV.UK before you do anything. You can also phone us directly, but make sure you use our contact details on GOV.UK. The National Cyber Security Centre has a helpful guide on how to stay secure online and protect yourself or your business against cybercrime, which you can find at cyberaware.gov.uk.
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7. E-Learning Course - PROBLEM SOLVING IN A WORKPLACE
This new course has now been added to our range of e-learning courses.
Course Description
This course covers a range of problems that occur in the workplace - and how they can be recognised, controlled and solved.
You'll learn about the three main areas in which problems can occur - people, tasks and resources.
Problems with people can include personality clashes, dangerous, offensive or illegal behaviour, poor communication and differences of opinion.
You'll learn about the Equality Act 2010 and how it applies to discrimination.
There'll be coverage of time-wasting - due to individual actions and poorly organised work systems - and how to ensure time at work is spent productively.
It'll also cover problems with resources, such as a lack of raw materials or equipment.
You'll discover the ways problems can be solved by the actions of managers, employees and outside organisations.
Finally, we'll investigate the use of arbitration, negotiation, compromise, conciliation and mediation to resolve conflicts - and the many benefits these resolutions can bring to the workplace.
Target Audience
This course is aimed at supervisors and managers that want to develop problem solving skills in the workplace. The course can be a great starting point for people new to their leadership role as well as more established managers that want to enhance their skills. This acts as a great introduction to the subject.
This course can be sold to individuals who are doing the training for themselves or it can be pitched to businesses who might want to put all of their first line management team through the training, so they all work in the same way and have the same skill set.
Advantages
CPD approval means that this course can be used by those that need to prove they are continually developing themselves.
Understanding why problems occur and having the tools to solve common problems quickly will ensure work runs smoothly.
Online training is flexible, efficient and cost effective meaning the candidate can progress through the modules at their own pace and in their own time, so they can fit the training around their work and personal life
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8. Demystifying Payroll for SME’s report from Breathehr Partner.
See the link to our partner Breathehr’s report over Demystifying Payroll for SME’s.
We can support your business with all Payroll matters. Contact us here to make an appointment.
