|
|
Discrimination for All
A female bouncer has won her case against a gay nightclub after claiming that she was bullied for being straight.
Sharon Legg used the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations Act 2003 to win her case. Mrs Legg, a married mother, worked as head of security at a nightclub in Bournemouth.
She claimed that she was subjected on a frequent basis to abuse because she was not a lesbian. She said that fellow door staff refused to obey her instructions and her manager repeatedly called her derogatory names such as “breeder”. She was dismissed without warning last June after a dispute with a colleague.
The tribunal did not find that she was dismissed because she was not gay. However, Mrs Legg was awarded £3,000 for injury to feelings due to harassment and £3,222 for unfair dismissal because the company did not follow proper procedures.
This is a reminder that discrimination legislation exists to protect all, the majority as well as the minority. The exception to this is disability legislation which only protects the disabled. It also serves as yet another reminder to always follow the proper procedures.
Date posted: 22-Apr-08
|
|
|
Changes to Maternity Benefits
Maternity benefit eligibility, particularly during Additional Maternity Leave (AML), has traditionally been a minefield for HR professionals. Are mothers on AML entitled to performance related bonuses? Should they keep their Company Car?
To clarify the situation and bring the UK into line with EU requirements, legislation regarding pay and benefits during maternity leave will change for expectant mothers whose expected week of childbirth falls on or after 5th October 2008 giving women the same rights in the additional second six months of maternity leave as in the first six months.
The current situation: During the first 26 weeks of Maternity leave (OML) employees are entitled to all of the contractual rights (such as pension or holidays) that she would have received if she had not been on leave. These include any special rights in your job contract such as company car or mobile phones (unless these are specifically for business use only). During the second 26 weeks, additional maternity leave, contractual rights to benefits such as pensions, car allowances and healthcare are suspended. Rights to the accrual of statutory holiday still apply.
The situation after 5th October 2008: The new rules, affecting women whose Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC) falls on or after 5 October 2008, will mean that employees will be entitled to their full benefit package throughout both OML and AML with the exception of pension rights. From October, if some element of company car provision is permitted for personal use, employers must treat the car as a benefit and allow the employee to keep it throughout AML as well as OML. Employers can only take back a company car for the whole maternity leave period if it is provided purely for business use. This rule continues to apply.
If car allowances are paid as a benefit (rather than amalgamated into their salary), this will continue to apply during AML. Employees should continue to be covered by life assurance and private medical schemes and should continue to benefit from gym memberships and childcare vouchers during AML. Any discretionary annual/ Christmas bonus or loyalty bonus should also be paid during AML.
The employee will be entitled to her full contractual holiday entitlement for the holiday year even if she is on maternity leave for some or all of it. Ensure that the holiday which the employee receives under her contract of employment meets the minimum statutory threshold under the Working Time Regulations which increase to 28 days in April 2009, as bank holidays do not count as paid holiday under the Regulations.
Pension rights should continue during the paid element of Maternity leave (the first 39 weeks).
Date posted: 22-Apr-08
|
|
|
EASTER AT A PRICE
Thirteen gangmasters are under investigation after an
unannounced raid of labour providers in the flower, plant
and bulb industry in Lincolnshire.
Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) officers, with the
assistance of the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA),
entered the premises of a number of nurseries in Spalding
and Boston, inspected vehicles used to transport workers
and carried out worker interviews on several daffodil
fields in the area.
The gangmasters were supplying hundreds of mainly English,
Polish and Slovakian workers to pick daffodils and work
in the nurseries.
Officers found:
- workers were transported on a plank of wood held up by
breeze blocks in the back of a transit van
- some workers had been charged GBP60 a week for accommodation
and had not been given any work for three weeks
- workers were required to surrender their passports to
the gangmaster
- agricultural minimum wage was not paid
- excessive accommodation charges, some charges were
over GBP30 per week more than the legal requirement for
minimum wage workers.
- workers did not receive holiday pay
- workers were charged for Personal Protective Equipment
to carry out their jobs
VOSA issued two prohibition notices on minibuses used to
transport workers.
Paul Whitehouse, chairman of the GLA said:
"These flowers would be given as Mother's Day and Easter
gifts across the UK, I find it unacceptable that loving
gifts from a child to their mother could be tarnished by
the exploitation of the workers who picked them."
The aim of the raid was to enforce legal requirements and
identify unlicensed gangmasters activity at a peak time
of production.
During the extensive three-day operation, over 130 workers
were interviewed and GLA officers unearthed evidence of
numerous violations and abuses of workers' rights. The
GLA have since been carrying out further investigations
and thirteen inspections of gangmaster businesses and their
records will be taking place shortly to follow up the
initial findings.
Whitehouse added: "When a worker does not get a chance to
work and owes mounting accommodation debts to the gangmaster
they are in grave danger of exploitation. Debt bondage is a
disgrace and I will not stand for it."
Anybody who is aware of exploitation should contact the GLA
on 0845 602 5020 or at http://www.gla.gov.uk/report.
Date posted: 14-Mar-08
|
|
|
MINIMUM WAGE CHANGES
Gordon Brown announced today that the National Minimum Wage
(NMW) will rise from October.
Adults who receive GBP5.52 an hour will receive GBP5.73,
18-21-year-olds will get a rise of 17p an hour to GBP4.77 and
16-17-year-olds will be paid GBP3.53, up from GBP3.40.
The government said nearly one million low paid employees, two
thirds of them women, will benefit from the increase.
The government has also boosted funding for enforcement of the
NMW and is planning tough new penalties for rogue employers
who underpay staff as part of the Employment Bill, now before
the Parliament.
Date posted: 05-Mar-08
|
|
|
McQualifications
The McDonalds group have gained approval to award nationally recognised qualifications.
The 'basic shift manager' course which is being piloted will train staff in everything they need to run a McDonald's outlet, from marketing to human resources and customer service skills.
It marks the first time commercial companies have been allowed to award nationally recognised qualifications based on their own workplace training schemes.
Two other firms - Network Rail and Flybe - have also been approved to award their own qualifications, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has said.
Skills Secretary John Denham said: 'It is right that we recognise and accredit employers that have shown a commitment to training and developing their staff.
'This is an important step towards ending the old divisions between company training schemes and national qualifications, something that will benefit employees, employers and the country as a whole.'
Giving qualifications equivalent status to A levels raises the prospect that staff could take a course at McDonald's and then go on to college or university.
But it will be universities and the higher education admissions service Ucas who decide whether the courses that emerge from these companies will be a good preparation for undergraduate study.
Airline Flybe has been given the green light to develop courses from GCSE to university degree level.
The firm will be developing its 'airline trainer programme' later this year. Courses will cover everything from engineering to cabin crew training.
Network Rail will be able to develop courses equivalent to GCSEs and A-levels and its first qualification to be piloted in 2008 will be in 'track engineering'.
The course will cover the technical requirements of track engineering and health and safety issues.
The company said the entire Network Rail workforce of 33,000 staff would eventually be involved in the training.
Date posted: 28-Jan-08
|
|
|
130 articles found.
Next
5 >>
|
|
|
