Location: Northern Ireland
Rep.of Ireland
Location: Northern Ireland
Rep.of Ireland

First Tuesday Q&A

The claimant was dismissed by reason of gross misconduct and in particular.

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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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act Coronavirus/Covid-19

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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Pay Coronavirus/Covid-19

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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discipline and Grievance

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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Coronavirus/Covid-19 Remote and Hybrid Working

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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Coronavirus/Covid-19 Leave

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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Dismissal Discipline and Grievance

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...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Dismissal Discipline and Grievance

Do we still need to consider alternatives to dismissal in disciplinary proceedings involving allegations of gross misconduct?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/05/2021 Employers should be mindful of their obligation to consider all the circumstances and other options to dismissal (such as final warning or demotion, where the contract allows for this), as a tribunal can still find that dismissal was outside the band of reasonable responses, even where there has be...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Dismissal Discipline and Grievance

What factors should we be considering when determining whether an employee’s behaviour amounts to gross misconduct?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/05/2021 What constitutes gross misconduct is a mixed question of fact and law. In general terms, “gross misconduct” connotes the most serious types of misconduct. It must be a fundamental breach i.e. a breach going to the heart of the contract. The misconduct must be gross (i.e. extreme, or abnormal) and c...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Dismissal Discipline and Grievance

An employee has recently resigned in advance of a disciplinary hearing - can we continue with disciplinary proceedings?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 13/04/2021 Fundamentally, if the employment relationship has ended, you cannot compel a former employee to attend any disciplinary hearing. You could of course choose to continue with disciplinary proceedings, but there may be little practical benefit of doing so. A potential situation where the employer may ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discipline and Grievance