Archived Legal Articles from 2022

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Employment & HR

December

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November

North West businesses forecast revenue growth in 2023

08/11/22

Eighty-five per cent of North West-based small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are confident their revenue will grow over the next 12 months despite the challenging economic conditions, according to new research by law firm, Forbes Solicitors. UK expansion, organic growth, and research and…

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October

Cost of Living Crisis: What can Employers do?

25/10/22

With the cost-of-living skyrocketing in recent months, the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis has become inescapable. As household bills rise and budgets tighten, flexible working is becoming increasingly important for many employees across the UK. It is crucial now more than ever, that…

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September

Q&A: Holiday pay following Harper Trust v Brazel

30/09/22

What are the facts? Harper Trust employed Ms Brazel as a visiting music teacher on a year round contract, but for term times only. Ms Brazel was only paid for the hours she taught, which could vary from week to week. The Trust sought to calculate Ms Brazel's holiday pay by using the '…

Review of Hybrid and Distance Working by the Office of Tax Simplification

21/09/22

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is conducting a review on the trends and tax implications of hybrid and distance working in the UK and across borders. The focus of the review is to look at changes in practice and any emerging trends away from the 'traditional' way of working. From…

New Acas Guidance: Staff Suspensions

21/09/22

A suspension occurs when an employer tells an employee to stop carrying out work temporarily, and Acas has recently published new advice on how to approach this ( https://www.acas.org.uk/suspension-during-an-investigation; https://www.acas.org.uk/acas-publishes-new-advice-on-staff-suspensions-at-work…

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August

Menopause and the Equality Act 2010

16/08/22

In July 2022, the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) published their report titled 'Menopause and the workplace'. The report emphasises the important topic of menopause, how it affects those who suffer from its symptoms and the impact this has on the workplace. With 4.5…

Is a four-day week the way forward for UK businesses?

02/08/22

On the 6th of June 2022, the world's largest trial of the four-day work week was embarked upon in the UK. 3,300 workers across 70 UK companies have enrolled on the program from a wide range of industries - from a local chip shop to large-scale corporations. The coordinated trial will run for six…

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July

How hot is too hot (to work)?

25/07/22

The recent record-breaking temperatures and the first ever red heatwave warning from the Met Office has led to calls from some MPs and unions for legislation to be introduced to put a limit on workplace temperatures to 30 degrees, or 27 degrees for workers doing strenuous work. There has also been calls…

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June

Could agency workers resolve the disruption caused by Industrial Action?

20/06/22

The current legal position surrounding business disruption caused by industrial action is that if your business faces industrial action, employers are unable to recruit agencies to supply workers specifically to cover work that is not being done by lawful industrial action, however, that could soon be…

Coming up: Simplification of Apprenticeships

14/06/22

From August 2022, the government will make the apprenticeships programme simpler for employers to use. It hopes to make the system more user friendly by reducing 'bureaucratic burdens'. The improvements are set to include: · Making it simpler for individuals to accelerate their…

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May

The 'Great Resignation'

30/05/22

2021 was the year deemed to be the 'Great Resignation' whereby employers witnessed mass resignations. Indeed, figures at the end of November 2021, evidenced that 4.5 million people had resigned from their positions, leading to the huge question as to why? Was this, as many espouse, a result of a…

Long Covid: What types of claims do employers need to be aware of?

12/05/22

People suffering from long Covid have reacted with alarm to comments by government's equalities watchdog, that the condition should not be treated as a disability. In a tweet posted on Sunday night, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said: " Discussions continue on whether…

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April

Employment Tribunals - Road Map 2022-2023

21/04/22

As the country and businesses continue to manage it's way out of the pandemic, the Employment Tribunal's are no different. Given the events of the last two years the Employment Tribunal system has faced increasing pressures which has led to a backlog in the processing, management and listing of…

Questions We've Been Asked In March 2022

04/04/22

Q: How should we deal with a grievance that is raised by an employee during a disciplinary process? A: If a grievance is raised during a disciplinary process the usual process may be to temporarily suspend the disciplinary process to deal with the grievance, however, there is no legal requirement…

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March

April Employment Essentials for HR

28/03/22

April 2022 sees six major changes for employers. It is vital that HR teams familiarise themselves with the updates prior to their enforcement and ensure that its existing policies are compliant and updated with any mandatory obligations. Procedure and policy documents should be subject to regular review…

STRESS: A pandemic in its own right in teaching? The after-effects of Covid-19

07/03/22

Undoubtedly, everyone has been affected in some way over the course of the past 2 years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. When the order was issued to work from home, some people were of course able to work from home, thereby reducing the risk of contracting the virus, however, many people were key…

Confidential Information and Employment Tribunal proceedings

04/03/22

When an employee leaves your employment what do you do to ensure that they have returned all your confidential information? Most employers rely on either a contract of employment setting out the obligations on an employee to return company property on exit or on asking an employee to provide a written…

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February

Forbes' Employment Team - Tribunal work for Registered Providers

24/02/22

Aside from the provision of routine advice to our clients, the Employment team at Forbes has significant experience in working with housing associations on specific projects, including running grievance and disciplinary investigations, and advising on each stage throughout restructures. We also support…

Implied term that a disciplinary process will be conducted fairly?

24/02/22

Burn v Alder Hey Children's NHS Hospital saw a claim brought by an employee seeking an injunction preventing her employer moving forward with the disciplinary process she was subject to, until an issue of disclosure was dealt with. The claimant considered that a contractual right to see correspondence…

Drug and alcohol misuse at work

07/02/22

Royal Mail has recently launched an investigation after footage appeared to show postal workers under the influence of drugs. According to a caption, the workers accidentally ate 'hash brownies' and had to be helped because of the impact the drugs had on them. The video claims staff ate the…

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January

IKEA cuts self-isolation sick pay for unvaccinated staff

11/01/22

IKEA has confirmed that it has cut sick pay for its unvaccinated UK staff, without mitigating circumstances, who would be required to self-isolate due to close contact with someone with Covid-19. The furniture retailer said workers who have not been jabbed will receive only statutory sick pay of £…

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