Probationary periods: what are they and what do you need to know about them?
You may have heard people say they are “working their probation” and it is very common for employment contracts to contain a probationary period clause but, what exactly is this and, how does it work? We look at the legal… Read on
Equal pay fact sheet
Our latest fact sheet looks at equal pay. Our series of factsheets is intended to cover topics which individuals may find of particular interest or, which are universally relevant but tricky to navigate. Our aim is to give basic facts… Read on
Gender pay deadline: the figures are in!
4 April 2018 was the deadline for large private and voluntary sector employers (with 250 or more employees) to publish their gender pay gap figures on the government’s dedicated website. Around 1,500 employers missed the deadline and over 1,000 added… Read on
Shared parental leave: share the joy!
The government is spending £1.5 million on a new campaign to promote awareness of the right of parents to take shared parental leave. Although around 285,000 couples qualify for shared parental leave each year, it is believed the take up… Read on
Illegality: workers won’t necessarily have the best of both worlds
There has been a lot in the press recently about ‘worker’ status for individuals providing services to the gig economy for example, the cases relating to drivers in Uber and the bicycle couriers in City Sprint and now, plumbers in… Read on
What are flexible working requests?
A flexible working request is a request to alter working times or conditions. Requests can be made for any reason, but need to be made in the correct format by employees with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service. Once a… Read on
What are Sunday working rights?
Sunday working rights are legal rights given to shop and betting workers. Workers in these industries cannot be forced to work on Sundays, as they are able to ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’ of Sunday working. The rights are given to workers… Read on
Non-payment of discretionary bonus: new case
We report on a new case dealing with discretionary bonuses and the steps an employer will need to take if not paying. Background The Claimant in this case, Mr Hill, had a bonus scheme with his employer Niksun Inc, which… Read on
Personal social media at work: ECHR decision
The decision of the European Court of Human Rights about employee’s private use of a Yahoo Messenger account has hit the news in a big way over the last couple of days. We explain the legal rationale behind it. Background… Read on
Muslim discriminated against by pay scale?
Did the Prison Service’s pay system indirectly discriminate against Muslim prison chaplains? The Prison Service had only employed Muslim chaplains since 2002, but had employed Christian chaplains for some time before that. This meant that Muslim chaplains were generally lower… Read on