Archive for November, 2008
By Philip - Friday, November 28th, 2008
There are a few political figures who gain respect because they say things as they see them, rather than speaking as a party automaton, towing the party line line like a good party apparatchik.
One such figure is Trevor Phillips who only a few weeks ago said that a Barack Obama figure was unlikely in the UK as the labour party apparatus was inherently racist. This probably went down like the proverbial leaden balloon with his party colleagues, despite its truth.He said the following:
“The parties and the unions and the think-tanks are all very happy to sign up to the general idea of advancing the cause of minorities but in practice they would like somebody else to do the business. It’s institutional racism.”
Mr Phillips claimed The Conservatives have done better than Labour at increasing the number of black and Asian candidates.
“They are less democratic. They are happier to impose candidates on the local parties,” he said, adding Labour was too in hock to “the trade unions, the socialist societies, the left intelligentsia, and until you get them to accept that they have got a responsibility do something it is almost impossible for the party leadership to make progress.”
As if to prove a correlated point the GMB union have just had permission to appeal to the House of Lords refused. The GMB had under settled many hundreds of female members equal pay claims and also given them information on those claims that was grossly misleading. According to the Daniel Barnett employment law newsletter thousands of union members will now sue their trade union for discrimination for the way their claim was dealt with. In the equal pay claims it looks like the Trade Unions have not done the business but left private sector lawyers, notably Stefan Cross, to ensure women’s pay is protected.
Posted in Sex/Race Discrimination | No comments »
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By Nicky - Friday, November 28th, 2008
In a bid to assist future employees facing redundancy the government have suggested implementing the National Employment Partnership (NEP) scheme.
Many of the larger employers, including Tesco and Royal Mail to name all but a few, will join forces with the government to initialise a ”Train to Gain” fund. This fund will offer advice to staff before they leave and assist in re-training them for alternative positions outside of the workplace.
For more details please click here.
Do you have any thoughts on this idea?
Posted in Miscellaneous | No comments »
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By Sarah - Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Thanks to Jenny and Emma today for their blogs on equal pay and sex discrimination. It seems both employers in these cases could have done with some help on dignity at work and equal opportunties. One way you can help mitigate the risks is to ensure your staff are trained in such matters.
On the 10th December 2008 we are running the next in our employment law seminars “Dignity at Work”. To find out more and book a place click here. The course will cover discrimination and the latest case law on the subject.
Posted in Age Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, Religion or Belief Discrimination, Sex/Race Discrimination, Sexual Orientation Discrimination | No comments »
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By Emma - Thursday, November 27th, 2008
A lesbian soldier who was sexually harassed by a male colleague who pestered her for sex and claimed he could “turn her straight” was awarded almost £187,000 in compensation at an Employment Tribunal in Leeds yesterday. This included £50,000 exemplary damages and £20,000 punitive damages. The Tribunal held that it was as severe a claim of victimisation and harassment as a Tribunal could see. The treatment included imposition of disciplinary sanctions, impinging the Claimant’s mental stability and obstructing her transfer to a more suitable post and cause the soldier eventually to resign. The Tribunal also stated that the Army hierachy “paid no more than lip service to the concepts of equal opportunites and the prevention of discrimination”. Wonder if they know about our Dignity at Work resource.
See more here. The Independent article makes the point that this pay out is bigger than recent compensation payments to soldiers seriously injured on duty. Surely the point is that compensation payments to injured soldiers should be higher rather than this payment is too much. What do you think?
Posted in Sex/Race Discrimination | 1 comment »
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By Jenny - Thursday, November 27th, 2008
I was interested to read an article today about Edith Kent who was apparently the first lady to receive equal pay to a man. This of course was some time ago, in fact back in the forties. For those of us who weren’t even around when the equal pay legislation came in, it is hard to imagine that there would have been a seperate standard pay for women and men for doing the same role.
The war meant that a lot of women were out there doing roles which couldn’t be filled by men because they were off fighting. I think really the war has done a lot for equal rights because although most women were removed once the men returned after the war (including Edith), they still showed to society that women were capable of carrying out roles other than those seen at the time as ‘acceptable’ for a woman.
Edith worked as a welder at a dockyard in Plymouth during the Second World War and was actually quoted as saying that she was embarrassed about the wage at the time. Shows how things have changed!
Posted in Categories, Sex/Race Discrimination | 2 comments »
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By Emma - Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
You may have noticed the mention of fit notes in the media yesterday. See here for an example. We have blogged on this concept before. The change is now scheduled to come in in 2010 and will bring about a significant change in what GPs are required to certify for their patients. GPs will need to identify tasks their patients can do at work as well as what they can’t rather than simply certifying them as unfit for work. Hopefully the change will be a positive thing for employers and employees enabling employees who have been off sick to get back to work more quickly and employers to lose fewer working days due to the sickness of their employees. I’m not sure how a GP will deal with tasks an employee can do if they are off sick due to work related stress (something we see quite regularly). Presumably there will be some kind of blanket provision to cover inability to do all work related activities.
Posted in Sick Pay | 2 comments »
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By Jenny - Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
I have to say that people who abuse the employment tribunal system make my blood boil. Because the costs rules in the employment tribunal (each party bears their own costs) are different to the County Court (loser pays winner’s costs) a Claimant is at very low risk of having to pay out any money. This is not always the case of course but costs orders tend to be the exception rather than the norm. For example from April 2006 to March 2007 there were only 343 costs orders made against Claimants.
This case is a typical example of someone who some may think are abusing the system. Miss Keane kept making claims under the age discrimination legislation and had been doing so for a while.
Yesterday a tribunal rejected 5 of her claims. She did also have 5 of her claims rejected in March of this year. I wonder how she managed to get back into the system again? Should the tribunal not keep a record of these people?
Posted in Age Discrimination, Categories | 2 comments »
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By Liam - Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Did you know that on most exam papers one can collect two or three extra marks just for using correct spelling, punctuation and grammar, or “SPAG” in examiner speak?
I think I recall Phil writing the odd blog post on such matters, for example here and here and here and here.
Reading this article regarding the pre-budget report, I lost count of the punctuation errors - I only have 10 fingers, so I struggle to count beyond that!
See how many you can spot…….I’ll get the ball rolling……it would appear direct.gov.uk seem to think that two prime ministers were making the pre-budget speech on Monday…..has Tony come back to hold Gordon’s hand?
“The Prime Ministers announcement to legislate on the commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020 will be taken forward through a child poverty bill in 2009″ [my emphasis]
How many more can you spot? Answers on a post card…..or comments below if you want to save a stamp…..after all it was an environmentally friendly pre-budget!
Posted in Government Publications | No comments »
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By Philip - Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
For those readers new to redundancy or for those whose axe has grown rusty through years of inactivity, ACAS has published a handy guide to handling redundancies with which readers can familiarise themselves with the procedure to follow in making employees redundant or refresh their memory. Available here
With ACAS codes of practice set to re-establish themselves as guides against which Tribunals will measure employer’s actions, familiarising yourself with the contents will stand you in good stead for the future.
Posted in Redundancy | No comments »
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