Employment

Minimum pay for 2006/07

With effect from 1st October 2006 the rates will be:
For adults £5.35 per hour
18-21 year olds : £4.45
16-17 year olds : £3.30
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Maternity Pay and Leave

From April 2007 all who qualify for maternity leave will be able to take a full 12 months maternity leave.
The period of payment will be extended to 39 weeks starting on the first day of leave.
An employee will have to give 8 weeks notice of her intention to return to work.
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Foreign Workers

The Health & Safety Executuive (HSE) has produced a number of leaflets, safety documents and basic signs in up to 40 different languages.
They are available free from website : www.hse.gov.uk/languages/index.htm
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Smoking Shelters

There is a debate in the House of Lords about smoking shelters and they are asking the Health & Safety Executive to clarify the position.  
In Scotland any shelter needs to be less than 50% enclosed otherwise it becomes an enclosed space in which smoking is prohibited.
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Employment Liability

On 1st October 2006 Injury Cost recovery (ICR) legislation comes into force.   Under the new legislation the National Health Service will have the right to claim back from employers, through their employer liability insurance, the cost of treating staff injured on their premises.
It is expected that this change will increase the cost of employer liability insurance by up to 8% for small to medium sized businesses.
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Age Discrimination

From ist October 2006, all discrimination due to age will be unlawful.
This applies equally to young persons as to the over 60's.
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Data Protection Act 1998

A code due to be published shortly will suggest that job applicants be given the right to have interview notes about them disclosed, whether or not they get the job. The revised code will cover all notes that are made at the interview, even if scribbled in the margin of a CV or e-mails about the qualities of the applicant.
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Illegal Workers

Company Diectors who employ illegal workers may face tough sanctions under new Home Office proposals.   If a company director is caught twice hiring illegal workers, either directly or indirectly through contractors, he/she will be disqualified.
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Harassment at work

Bullying in the workplace is to be classed as harassment, after a recent case.   The Protection of Harrasment Act has been used successfully to claim damages by a third party who was bullied by employees of the company.  Beware, claims can be brought up to six years after the incident! 
All employers should make sure that their employees understand the company policy on harassment.
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Sunday Trading

Sunday shopping hours will remain as they are.  After a review the DTI have concluded there should be no change.
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Age Discrimination Factsheets

The DTI have published eight legislation factsheets covering redundancy, retirement, occupational pensions etc.
To download pages go to: www.dti.gov.uk/employment.discrimination/age-discrimination/age-legislation/page29258
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Statutory Sick Pay

From 1st October 2006, employees under 16 or over 65 will no longer be excluded from entitlemnet to S.S.P. solely because of their age.
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Holiday Entitlement

The DTI is consulting on plans to introduce a statutory minimum holiday entitlemnet of 28 days (5.6 weeks).
Comments are welcome : email
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Maternity Pay

From April 2007, Satutory Maternity Pay will be extended to nine months.
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Paternity Leave

If the mother returns to work after six months but before the end of her maternity leave period, there will be a new right to an additional period of paternity leave for fathers, who will be able to benefit from leave and satutory pay.
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Carers

From April 2007, there will be a new right for carers to request flexible working.
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Holiday Leave

The consultation period closes on 22 September'06 that the Government are carrying out.   This proposes that workers are given paid leave for bank holidays in addition  to the statutory four weeks annual leave.  The proposal is to phase this in gradually allowing for 24 days holiday from 1 October 2007 and increasing to full entitlemnet over a one or two year period.
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Older Workers

If someone is retired against their will after October 2006, they are eligible to make a claim for unfair dismissal.
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Job Advertisments

 After 1st October 2006, job advertisements will need to avoid words like: energetic, senior, or at least 10 years work experience.
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Hung-over Workers

If an employer decides that an employee, who reports into work with a bad hangover, is unsafe to work and sends him/her home: care must be taken to make sue they do not drive themselves home: to the point of preventing them getting into the car.
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