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Employment Law e-bulletin March 2020 Welcome to our March Employment Law ebulletin. As concerns regarding the possibility of a coronavirus epidemic continue to rise, employers are facing not only the possibility of high levels of sickness absence, but also employees being placed in quarantine, selfisolating or needing to look after children should schools/nurseries close. We start this month by answering some of the most frequently asked questions on management of coronavirus in the workplace. We are also taking a look at the significant changes that are going to be taking place in employment law from April. There is not much time left to ensure your business is fully prepared and our next free Essential Employment Law seminars will be looking at "Key employment law changes in April 2020 and beyond". We will also provide our views, from an employment law perspective, on the coronavirus situation. These breakfast seminars will take place in our Edinburgh and Glasgow offices later this month and you can book your place now see below for full details.
Innes Clark
One of the topics the seminar will cover will be the changes to the rules on employment documentation. These wide ranging changes will impact on nearly every employer, employee and worker in Great Britain. If you are unsure whether your current terms and conditions will be compliant then we can review and amend your documents for a fixed fee of ÂŁ475 plus VAT. Contact innes.clark@morton-fraser.com for further information. We have also provided details below of our in depth employment law training courses.
This month's topics Please click on the link below to view the relevant article:Free Essential Employment Law Seminars - Key employment law change in April 2020 and beyond/Coronavirus update. Managing coronavirus in the workplace - FAQs - As the coronavirus outbreak continues to escalate, we answer frequently asked questions relating to the employment relationship. Preview of April 2020 employment law changes - this year the changes are wider reaching than ever before. New Immigration system proposals announced - we finally have concrete details of the new post Brexit immigration system. Disabled employee who was not absent was fairly dismissed - the point at which it is reasonable, fair and non-discriminatory to dismiss an employee can be difficult to identify. Maternity pay - 1: Shared parental pay - 0 - it is game over for those arguing that enhancements to maternity pay need to be replicated with shared parental pay. Knowledge of someone other than dismissing officer relevant to fairness of dismissal - the EAT have considered the impact of a manager failing to provide relevant information to the disciplinary hearing chair. Court decision on Shareholders' Agreement restrictive covenants welcomed by businesses - The Court of Appeal finds restrictive covenants can be enforced despite the potential for indefinite application. New Legislation, Guidance and Consultations - another IR35 inquiry, the Government response to consultation on salaried hours work and salary sacrifice and guidance on nondisclosure agreements, the coronavirus and supporting vegans in the workplace. Employment Law in the News March 2020 - our regular report on the employment law issues that have made the news headlines over the past few weeks. In our blog of the month, Laura McKenna looks at Sensitive personality traits: a hidden gem for employers? Our weekly employment law podcasts You can listen to our most recent employment law podcasts by clicking on the links below. Managing coronavirus in the workplace Alan Delaney discusses managing coronavirus in the workplace with David Hossack. Sacking the "unsackable" Innes Clark and David Hossack explore situations where there is sometimes a perception that an employee cannot be dismissed April 2020: Changes to contracts of employment Innes Clark talks to David Hossack about important changes to contracts of employment which take effect in April. Bereavement Leave: new entitlement for employees Innes Clark talks to David Hossack about the new statutory bereavement leave entitlement. Our app You can download our free Employment Law App MF HR Mobile for both Android and iPhone. This includes calculators for unfair dismissal awards, maternity pay and statutory redundancy payments, as well as key employment law facts, figures and fingertip guides. It also includes this monthly eBulletin. Contact us If you have any questions on the content of this ebulletin or if you would like to discuss any other employment issue then please contact your usual Morton Fraser Employment Team contact or any of the Employment Team Partners listed below:
Innes Clark on 0131 247 1181 / innes.clark@morton-fraser.com; Lindsey Cartwright on 0141 274 1141 / lindsey.cartwright@morton-fraser.com; David Hossack on 0131 247 1024 / david.hossack@morton-fraser.com; or David Walker on 0141 274 1146 / david.walker@morton-fraser.com.
Free Essential Employment Law Seminars We will be running our latest free essential employment law seminars in Edinburgh and Glasgow later this month - "Key employment law changes in April 2020 and beyond". We will also provide our views, from an employment law perspective, on the coronavirus situation. An unprecedented amount of new employment legislation that will impact on nearly every employer in the country is being introduced throughout 2020. This includes the implementation of some significant features of the Good Work Plan in April. Our seminars will focus on:coronavirus - latest thoughts from an employment law perspective changes to the rules on the written statement of terms and conditions of employment changes to the rules on calculating holiday pay new rules on the provision of key information to agency workers the right to parental bereavement leave and pay taxation of termination payments the latest on the IR35 changes new limits on national living and minimum wage and other statutory benefits new limits on tribunal compensation; and the likely impact of the new Employment Bill Our seminars will explain what these changes will mean for your business and what action you must take to ensure you will be ready and able to comply with the laws when they are introduced. The dates for our breakfast seminars are:Tuesday 24 March at 8.30am in our Edinburgh office, and Wednesday 25 March at 8.30am in our Glasgow office. Registration for both seminars will take place from 8am and they will last approximately one hour, including questions and answers, with an opportunity for networking before and after.
Employment Law Training - Coming up in April and May Keep up-to-date with the key legal requirements and best practice in the workplace saving your organisation time and money. Our high quality training courses are designed for business owners, directors, HR professionals, line managers, in-house lawyers and finance team members seeking an understanding of, or an update on, specific selected areas. In April and May we will be running the following training courses:Immigration & Employment Training - Edinburgh: 27 April 2020 Between 1 October 2018 and 31 December 2018, the Home Office issued fines of nearly ÂŁ8 million to employers who had breached right to work rules. A single, first time offence, will attract a minimum fine of ÂŁ15,000 so the consequences of non-compliance are severe. With Brexit approaching, EU nationals will need to register with the Home Office in order to be allowed to continue to work in the UK and as a result employers face an increased risk of immigration law breaches and penalties. This half day course will cover: common mistakes when carrying out right to work checks techniques to ensure that your procedure protects you from Home Office fines employing workers from outside the EU and complying with an employer's duties to the Home Office practical tips on how to engage with your existing EU workers and monitor registrations under the Settled Status scheme how future recruitment from the EU will work For details of how to book click here or email innes.clark@morton-fraser.com. Discrimination and harassment - Edinburgh: 7 May 2020, Glasgow 15 May 2020
Employees are, quite rightly, increasingly willing to challenge inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. Line managers need to be equipped with the skills to bring to life equal opportunity and dignity at work policies in their day to day actions. Claims for discrimination are uncapped with six and even seven figure sums having been awarded by Employment Tribunals in the past few years. Employers who can show that they have taken "all reasonable steps" to avoid discrimination (including through appropriate training on equality issues) may be able to use this statutory defence against certain discrimination claims arising from the act of their employees. In this course we will cover: the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 different types of discrimination recent cases and Employment Tribunal awards practical tips and red flags when recruiting, managing and dismissing the reasonable steps defence and how to ensure that you can argue it cascading training down through the workforce recent cases For details of how to book click here or email innes.clark@morton-fraser.com. These sessions are part of a practical series of employment law courses covering key employment law and related HR issues brought to you by one of the leading employment law teams in Scotland. A link to the full programme with details of costs can be found here. If you would like more information please contact Innes Clark on innes.clark@morton-fraser.com.
Employment Law Guide & Employment Timeline To see our Brief Guide to Employment Law in Scotland, England and Wales, click here. For details of upcoming changes in employment law, see our Updated Employment Law Reform Timeline.
Employment Law Fact Card - 2020/21 edition out soon!
Our Employment Law Fact Card is full of useful information for employers including disciplinary and redundancy checklists, Employment Tribunal award limits, family friendly leave entitlements and national minimum wage rates. We will be sending out the latest edition to our mailing list later this month. If you are not already on our mailing list and would like a hard copy of our free Fact Card please email us at employment@morton-fraser.com with your name and postal address and we will send it on to you. You can also find lots of useful employment law information on our free iPhone app which is available to download from the App Store. For further details and a link to the download see:
MF HR Mobile - Our Employment Law App "...the app is gorgeous, very well designed with great functionality and looks." - Legal IT insider (www.legaltechnology.com)
Employment Law Support for your Organisation How we can help Clear employment law advice from one of the leading employment teams in Scotland. More Law Society accredited specialists than any other team in Scotland Clear, pragmatic, cost effective, legally privileged advice Fixed fee packages available (including Tribunal awards insurance, if required) A highly professional and responsive service‌very approachable and always easily contactable Chambers and Partners. Contact innes.clark@morton-fraser.com to find out more. Employment law training We offer a practical series of employment law courses covering key employment law and related HR issues including:Disciplinary and grievance issues training Managing employees (Performance) training Managing employees (Sickness Absence) training Discrimination and harassment training Employment Tribunal Procedure and Witness Familiarisation training Immigration & Employment training GDPR: the practical day to day skills you need to know in the workplace For further information please contact Innes Clark on 0131 247 1181 or at innes.clark@mortonfraser.com. A little more help The information contained in our Factcard, and much more, can also be accessed via our Employment Law app. Search for MFHRMobile at the App store or Google Play. If you don't already subscribe then contact us at employment@morton-fraser.com to receive our monthly employment law updates. As well as providing updates on key employment law developments, our monthly e-news also provides details of free employment law seminars that we run throughout the year. For further information please contact Innes Clark on 0131 247 1181 or at innes.clark@mortonfraser.com.
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