The Rights, Wrongs and Pitfalls of an Edict to Return to the Office

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 20/04/2023 Christine: Brilliant, Seamus. I'm just mindful of the time. Let's jump to our Hub subscriber question. The question we have is . . . So, I picked out this question because we get it in many, many forms at Legal-Island, at different events. People are coming up and saying kind of the same thing. So...

The New Vento Bands: How Persuasive are they in NI?

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 20/04/2023 Christine: Great, Seamus. Shall we talk about something a bit more tangible that we know is the actual law as we see it? The Vento bands have been revised. Now, they're English and Welsh, but they are persuasive here in Northern Ireland. Am I correct in saying that? Seamus: Yeah, absolutely. So, ...

The Windsor Framework – does it Extinguish the Promised ‘Bonfire of Worker’s Rights’, in NI at least?

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 20/04/2023 Christine: So, let's get into the Windsor framework. Essentially, the Windsor framework is a document that deals with trade, but it does have knock-on effects when we start to look at the Brexit Freedoms Bill, the Good Friday Agreement, which of course it's the 25th anniversary. There's loads in t...

Zero-Hours Contracts - The Current Law and the New Proposals

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 17/02/2023 Christine: So now we're just going to move on to the next topic. It's around zero-hours contracts. So draft legislation, as I said at the start, was introduced in the Assembly just before it fell. And it is aiming to enhance protection for zero-hours workers. This isn't unique to Northern Ireland....

Why HR are Key to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Success

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 17/02/2023 Christine: So, Seamus, do you want to tell us what exactly ESG is? Seamus: Yeah. So I suppose that the first point is ESG and the mind boggles as to what we're referring to, but it is something that has been around for a long time, and it has been around for a long time in different guises, I sup...

Happy New Year (of Holidays!) - Tips on How to Manage Holiday Requests

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 17/01/2023 Christine: Let's move on to our second topic, our happy holiday requests. So New Year brings lots of sickness, but it also brings the new holiday year, which is brilliant. But we get conflicting requests from employees who all want the same two weeks off in the summer, or they want to be off durin...

Office Etiquette During Flu Season

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 17/01/2023 Christine: So let's have a look then at our first topic, the office etiquette during flu season. So COVID-19 is on the rise, flu season is upon us, and there are numerous bugs during the rounds in schools across the country. So how can you keep a healthy workforce without ruffling legal feathers? ...

Helpful Tips on How to Lay the HR Groundwork for a Successful Christmas Party Event

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 14/12/2022 Christine: So, "Are you planning an in-person work Christmas get together this year?" We've got, yes, we can't wait to hit the dance floor, or no, COVID gave us the welcome excuse to stop doing them. So, as I said at the start, Christmas parties are making a comeback this year. COVID is on the wan...

Working or Shirking from Home?

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 14/12/2022 Christine: So working or shirking, Seamus. Basically, the world is divided into two different sectors. We've got kind of our Alan Sugars, our Elon Musks that think if you're not sitting in front of me at your desk, slaving away, then you're not really working. There was a CEO who put a comment on ...

Dealing with Quiet Quitting

Posted in: Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 22/11/2022 Christine: So I'm sure anyone who's been on social media, especially TikTok, has heard this phrase quiet quitting. The millennials have invented it, but is it actually new? I mean, working to rule would be what I would call it. The baby boomers are giving off saying, "Well, in my day, it was calle...