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Gillian Duffy considers how businesses can protect their reputation when making difficult decisions about redundancies and pay cuts If business decisions like redundancies are getting the attention of mainstream or social media audiences, the key is to not panic. As the UK officially enters recession, we are seeing perhaps the toughest landscape in the corporate …
Continue reading "Reputational risk: Prepare to have right on your side when making efficiency savings"
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Alan Lewis and Caroline Glacken consider the issues surrounding annual leave that have been raised by the government’s response to Covid-19 ‘If employers have not been actively managing annual leave, they are likely to find themselves faced with requests to carry over leave at the end of the leave year.’ The recent chaos caused by …
Continue reading "Annual leave: Quarantine, carry over and other complex Covid-19 holiday issues"
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Jo Broadbent rounds up recent developments affecting employers and their advisers ‘The Department of Health and Social Care has published guidance on test and trace requirements for sectors where there is a higher risk of transmission of Covid-19.’ Third Treasury Direction creates fresh confusion The Treasury published the third Direction on the Coronavirus Job Retention …
Continue reading "Legal news: Employment update"
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Lee Harding and William Mallin examine the extent of employees’ right to refuse to return to work because of the threat posed by the coronavirus ‘An employee’s belief that they should not be exposed to any danger whatsoever will clearly not be reasonable. Tribunals do not expect employers to eradicate risk, only to reduce the …
Continue reading "Health and safety: Covid-19 and serious and imminent danger – a new dawn in employee litigation?"
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Colin Leckey and David Hopper examine the uncertain position on employers’ ability to serve notice on employees during furlough and the rules on calculating notice pay ‘Unlike similar schemes in other countries, the CJRS has never included a condition that employees for whom a furlough grant was claimed cannot subsequently be made redundant.’ The complexities …
Continue reading "Coronavirus: Notice pay during furlough: what’s allowed?"
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Colin Leckey and David Hopper explore the challenges of consulting remotely and holding remote elections for employee representatives when staff are on furlough or working from home ‘Carrying out information and consultation obligations remotely has generally been regarded as permissible before the coronavirus pandemic and it is unlikely to be regarded as a problem in …
Continue reading "Coronavirus: Consulting with furloughed employees about redundancies and changing terms"
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Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that shielding employees can return to work from 1 August, Joanne Moseley looks at how employers can start to get their most vulnerable staff members back to work while reducing the risk of legal claims ‘Even if the employer has already re-opened, it should carry out an individual risk assessment …
Continue reading "Covid-19: Key steps to ensure a safe return to work for shielding employees"
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Nabila Chikhi and Emilie Cole consider the risk of employment claims on health and safety grounds from employees who are reluctant to return to work due to Covid-19 ‘The central question will be when it is reasonable for employees to believe that Covid-19 poses an “imminent” danger. As long as the pandemic persists, there will …
Continue reading "Health and safety: Returning to work after lockdown could lead to upsurge in tribunal claims"
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David Palmer explores the issues for employers resulting from the Chancellor’s announcement that government support for furloughed employees will be gradually withdrawn. The announcement will affect one million employers and more than eight million jobs ‘Despite the fraught evolution of the CJRS and the uncertainties which arose about its rules, it has so far achieved …
Continue reading "Coronavirus job retention scheme: Issues to consider as the furlough scheme winds down"
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Rose Smith looks at the new ‘commandments’ that employers must follow before making claims under the updated furlough scheme ‘While being a potentially helpful tool for businesses, flexible furlough is going to be burdensome and time-consuming for them to operate.’ On 20 March 2020, the UK government announced its unprecedented Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) …
Continue reading "Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Flexible furlough – rewriting the rules"
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