Giving References
19 / 04 / 2012
As a general rule, there’s no legal obligation to provide a reference. What is important is taking a consistent approach. Increasingly employers have developed a policy of not giving a reference (a shame really, since it can be very helpful to have a bit of extra insight). But whatever your policy you need to apply it consistently. If you play...
Trigger For Collective Redundancies
26 / 03 / 2012
Where an employee proposes to make 20 or more employees redundant at the same establishment in a 90 day period, the requirement to consult collectively is triggered. In the case of United States of America v Nolan, the European Court of Justice has been asked to consider when exactly that requirement must be implemented. Last week the Advocate General gave...
The Fridge, The Sikh And The Meat - Religious Discrimination – PCP Caused Disadvantage
15 / 03 / 2012
Indirect discrimination occurs where an employer applies a “provision, criterion or practice” (PCP) that puts people who share a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage In the context of religion and belief discrimination, persons who share a protected characteristic are those who share the same belief that is affected by the PCP, rather than simply the members of a particular...
Seven Things That Employers Should Know About Redundancy
12 / 03 / 2012
It is open to employers to review and reshape their organisations to make sure that they are fit for purpose and running effectively and in a cost-effective way. It is inevitable that at some stage every employer will have to go through a redundancy process to ensure that they get and keep their organisation in the right shape. As well...
Redundancies – Transferred Redundancies AKA ‘Bumping’
08 / 03 / 2012
Yesterday I was advising on a redundancy situation and the question of bumping cropped up. Bumping (or more correctly a transferred redundancy) arises where an employee whose job is not redundant is dismissed to make way for an employee whose role has become redundant. This often happens when a more senior role is to go, leaving junior roles untouched. There...