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Some sunshine at last although it’s a shame it didn’t last until the bank holiday weekend!
In this bulletin we look at the new right for employees to request time to train that come into force on 6th April, 2010 but for the time being, this only relates to companies with more than 250 employees.
We also introduce the new Equality Act and Bribery Bill that will have implications for most businesses.
I am on holiday from 12th to 19th May inclusive. If you have any urgent issues during this time, please do call the office and one of my colleagues will be available to help but it would help if any not-quite-so-urgent issues could wait until my return.
As ever, your feedback is always appreciated so please do let us know if there’s anything else you would like to see in our e-Bulletin.
Kind regards,
Angela
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New Right for Employees to Request Time to Train
From 6 April 2010, employers in England, Scotland and Wales with 250 or more employees will have to seriously consider an employee’s formal request for time away from their core duties to undertake training.
Employees can request any training that they think will improve both their and your business performance and there is no limit on the amount of time employees can request.
Training can be either, accredited (leading to the award of a recognised qualification) or unaccredited (helping develop specific skills relevant to their job, workplace or business) and can be delivered in the workplace, at home or on their own, even abroad.
You do not have to pay for the training or the employees for the time spent training.
You must within 28 days of receiving a valid request (if required, you can ask the employee for more information to support the request):
- Accept the request and inform the employee of your decision in writing
- Meet the employee to discuss their request and within 14 days of the meeting inform the employee of your decision in writing.
You may agree the request but suggest the following changes:
- Deliver the training in house rather than externally
- Suggest a different course of qualification that would be better for the employee
You may only refuse an employee’s request for time off to train for one of a set of specified business reasons.
Failure to follow the correct procedure could result in an employment tribunal making an award of up to eight weeks’ pay at the statutory capped rate of £380 per week.
The right to request will be extended to employees of all employers from 6 April 2011.
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An Introduction to the Equality Act
Most of the Equality Bill is expected to come into force in October 2010, having been designed to simplify the existing, somewhat confusing, anti-discrimination measures.
All employers will be affected as it will be much easier for workers to bring complaints of discrimination if they feel they have been treated unfairly. All employers should review their recruitment processes, equal opportunities and sickness policies to avoid complaints.
The Act will protect against discrimination in the workplace because of the following “protected characteristics”:
- Disability
- Age
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Sex
- Gender reassignment
- Sexual orientation
- Race
- Religion or belief
It will be important to train staff in these new rules to ensure they don’t inadvertently break the new rules.
One of the key changes is that pre-employment questionnaires will no longer be permitted other than in very specific circumstances such as where medical fitness is crucial for a particular role such as driving. Asking general questions about the individual’s health that are not specifically related to the job will be prohibited. Asking questions about their health could also raise the possibility of a disability discrimination claim if they are not appointed. Employers will still be entitled to screen applicants about health after making a job offer.
The Act continues to use the already familiar concepts of direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment but there are some changes.
Direct discrimination occurs if an employee is discriminated against because of a protected characteristic, whether or not the employee possesses that characteristic and it will be unlawful to discriminate against employees because they have a connection with someone else who possesses a protected characteristic, or because they are mistakenly perceived to possess a protected characteristic – discrimination by association or perception. The ban on discrimination by association will be extended to all protected characteristics and so will reflect the law developed in recent appeal cases. This should protect spouses, partners, parents and carers who look after a disabled person or older relative from discrimination. They will be protected by virtue of their very close link to that person.
The Act extends liability for third-party harassment to all protected characteristics other than pregnancy/maternity and marriage/civil partnerships if the employer has failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the harassment and provided the employer knows that the employee has experienced third-party harassment on at least two prior occasions.
A new concept of combined discrimination is introduced whereby, for example, an employee who claims they have been specifically discriminated against because they are an Asian woman, rather than just because of their race or gender, will be able to claim for this combination of characteristics.
Detriment arising from disability will replace the concept of disability-related discrimination and occurs when employers treat employees in a detrimental way because of something that is a consequence of their disability. For example, it would be unlawful to dismiss an employee with a poor attendance record when their absence was caused by a disability unless the dismissal could be justified as a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim” or the employer could not have reasonably been expected to have knowledge of the disability.
Employees will be free to discuss pay, (including seeking or giving information with current and former colleagues) and whether there is a connection between pay and having (or not having) a particular protected characteristic. Action taken against them for being involved in such a pay discussion will be unlawful victimisation.
A more detailed guide produced by Eversheds is available online
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British Businesses to Comply with New Bribery Bill
This new law will bring significant responsibility to company directors, and companies could face prosecution for failing to prevent bribery in their organisation under the new regime.
The Act introduces a general offence of offering or receiving a bribe, a specific offence of offering to bribe foreign public officials and a corporate offence of failure of commercial organisations to prevent bribery by persons working on their behalf.
All offences could result in a maximum of ten years’ imprisonment with an unlimited fine for corporate failure.
If bribes are paid by or on behalf of a business, the company will have to demonstrate that it has ‘adequate procedures’ in place to prevent corrupt business practices or face the penalties.The Corporate Offence is committed if an individual who is associated with a business bribes another person with the intention of gaining or retaining business or an advantage in the conduct of business.
The business will have a defence if they are able to prove that it had adequate procedures in place prohibiting individuals associated with their business from participating in such conduct.
The Secretary of State will publish guidance in June/July. However, companies should start to consider the following:
- Gain an understanding of this new legislation
- Assess the risks in your particular business
- Review any policies and procedures that you already have in place
- Create awareness amongst your workforce that corrupt practices will not be tolerated, indicating what is and is not acceptable
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Your Questions Answered
Q: We have an employee whose wife is expecting a baby in October this year. He has said that he wishes to take six months’ paternity leave under the new legislation to enable his wife to return to work sooner as she is the higher wage earner. What do we have to do?
A: The right to additional paternity leave and pay applies only to fathers or partners of mothers of children with an expected week of birth beginning on or after 3 April 2011 (or in an adoption situation, where the notification of the match with a child is on or after 3 April 2011, or where the child enters Great Britain on or after 3 April 2011, in relation to an adoption from overseas).
You should therefore inform your employee that he is only eligible to take two weeks’ paternity leave which should be taken within 56 days from the date of the child’s birth.
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In Closing
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As always, I love to receive your feedback and I'd be especially grateful if you could let me know what you think of our new e-Bulletin layout and our new website. You can drop me an email via angela@crispinrhodes.co.uk or give me a call directly on 01908 576991. Also, don't forget you can download our new Desktop Guides to HR completely free of charge.
Lastly, please could I ask you to use the link below to forward this email onto anyone you think would benefit from keeping abreast of the latest changes to HR law? (And if you've been forwarded this email, you can subscribe to receive it every month by emailing or visiting our website)
Thank you once again, and for now I wish you all the best.
Kind regards,
Angela Rhodes
Crispin Rhodes Ltd
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Tel 01908 576991 - Fax 01908 607533 - Free HR Resources - Newsletter Archive - Contact Us
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Crispin Rhodes Ltd, 4 Aldrich Drive, Willen, Milton Keynes, MK15 9JH - VAT Reg No: 690381621
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Crispin Rhodes Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 3336715
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