What type of employee has the right to make a flexible working request?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/07/2021 Any employee can make a request for flexible working in relation to the hours they work, the times they begin/ finish work or their place of work. However, only employees with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service have a statutory right to make such a request to their employer and they can only mak...

Do students, who carry out hourly-paid work during their holidays, accrue holiday during the unpaid absences from work?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/07/2021 In the case of a student who carries out hourly-paid work during school/ university vacations (that is, Christmas, Easter and Summer) would their holidays accrue during the unpaid absences from work (i.e. term time)? If the worker remains under a contract during term time, they would continue to a...

If an employee is under both a full-time contract and a second, casual contract with the same employer, are they entitled to holidays under both contracts?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/07/2021 As these are two separate contracts, the employee will be entitled to whatever statutory (or contractual) holidays apply under each contract. Therefore, the employee is entitled to receive their pro-rated holiday entitlement under the part-time contract in addition to the full-time entitlement unde...

If employees willingly provided a personal email addresses and these were subsequently used to contact them at home during the Covid Lockdown, is this a breach of data protection?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/07/2021 If employees provide personal email addresses at the start of their employment and their personal email addresses were used to contact them while they worked from home during the Coronavirus Lockdown, is this a breach of data protection? It will be important to check the content of your privacy not...

How did the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme change on 1st July 2021?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/07/2021 From July 2021, employers will be required to make a 10% contribution to furlough pay. This will increase to 20% for August and September 2021. HMRC guidance operational from 1 July 2021 states: The government will pay 70% of wages up to a maximum of £2,187.50 for the hours that the employee is on...

If an employee is found to have committed misconduct (not gross misconduct), can an impose a sanction other than a warning or demotion?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/06/2021 If an employee is found to have committed misconduct (not gross misconduct), can an impose a sanction other than a warning or demotion? In general terms, the types of disciplinary sanction and the provisions governing how and in what circumstances they will be applied are decided by the employer an...

Can Home Working Be Made Permanent Through Custom and Practice?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/06/2021 If employees have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, can they argue that through custom and practice, it has become a term of their contract of employment that they are entitled to work from home on a permanent basis? During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many employees h...

Travelling to non-approved countries – can we refuse the leave?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/06/2021 Can an employer refuse to allow holidays and/or cancel an employee's holiday leave if they are using the holiday to go to another country which is not on the approved travel list? How employers choose to deal with an employee whose holiday plans would require them to quarantine, or self-isolate, on...

Can we still dismiss an employee for an act of gross misconduct which took place several months ago?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/05/2021 If you were aware of the alleged act of misconduct at the time and did not initiate an investigation process, this could have potential implications in relation to the fairness of any subsequent dismissal. In order for a dismissal to be fair, it should not only be for one of the potentially fair re...

In terms of “taking account of all the circumstances” before a dismissal for gross misconduct, what issues should we be considering?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/05/2021 The relevant factors to consider when deciding whether to dismiss will often depend on the specific facts of the case but, in general terms, employers should usually consider the relevant background to the offence, including previous warnings given to the employee or similar incidents. Length of se...