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 an employee asks to audio record a disciplinary hearing should we let them do so?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/10/2016 For disciplinary hearings, an important reference for employers generally should be the Labour Relations Agency’s Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. This provides a general guide for both employers and employees on how to conduct disciplinary hearings fairly. The LRA code ma...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discipline Policies and Procedures

I work in an organisation which requires all male employees to wear a tie when attending business meetings and conferences on behalf of the company. One of our managers refuses to wear a tie. How should we deal with this?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/09/2016 Dress codes can be a difficult issue for employers, as evidenced by the recent media coverage surrounding the case of a woman who was reportedly sent home from her job as a receptionist for refusing to comply with a dress code requiring her to wear two to four inch heels. It is not clear whether yo...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discipline Policies and Procedures

Please provide some guidelines on current retirement legislation as regards employment contracts

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 05/07/2016 The law on retirement has changed considerably in recent years. Although compulsory retirement clauses were once common features in contracts of employment, their current use is rare following the abolition of the default retirement age. Compulsory retirement is now also potentially unlawful age di...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discrimination Contracts of Employment Policies and Procedures

A number of staff members have requested parental leave during exam-time; is parental leave applicable to the parents of sixth formers? 

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/06/2016 Although the pupils in question would fall within this age bracket, it is important to consider the purpose of the leave being sought. Parental leave should be used only for the purpose of caring for a child. The issue, therefore, is whether leave during exam-time could be considered "caring for a ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Working Time Policies and Procedures

Can we enforce a contractual retirement age?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 05/04/2016 Compulsory retirement of employees may potentially amount to unlawful age discrimination. Whether the contractual retirement age in question here can be enforced will depend on whether you are able to objectively justify it as a "proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim". This will require...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discrimination Contracts of Employment Policies and Procedures

If you have a member of staff leave the company but then re-joins a few months later on a new contract of employment, does the company need to go through a full induction process with them again e.g. Health & Safety, Office Regulations, Data Protection and other company Procedures and Policies as if they never had worked for the company previously?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 02/02/2016 As a general rule, it is important that all companies, large or small, should have a well-considered induction programme to provide employees with all the information they need before starting the job. The induction programme should reflect the complexity of the job in question and help employees ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Health and Safety Contracts of Employment Policies and Procedures Recruitment and Selection

Can we consider increasing a penalty sanction from final written warning (FWW) to dismissal on appeal?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 05/01/2016 The opportunity to appeal against a disciplinary decision is essential to natural justice and appeals may be raised by employees on various grounds, including new evidence having come to light, or the undue severity or inconsistency of the penalty imposed.The LRA Code of Practice does not deal with...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discipline Policies and Procedures

We do not have a handbook, just a USB stick we issue to all managers with policies and procedures. Is this ok?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 03/11/2015 For the most part, policies set out in a staff handbook are there as a matter of good practice, to set out standard expected of employees, to assist the running of the business, and to reduce legal risk by making sure employees and managers understand the legal rights and responsibilities inherent ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Policies and Procedures

For how long should we retain interview records?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 03/11/2015 The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) does not specify any documentation retention periods; Schedule 1, paragraph 5 simply provides that personal data should not be kept for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it is processed. However, Part 2 of the Information Commissioner's Employment...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Data Protection and GDPR Policies and Procedures Recruitment and Selection

When an employer gives a verbal warning for misconduct to an employee after a disciplinary does this also need to be communicated to the employee in writing or only recorded for the organisation’s own purposes? Is it procedurally correct, if an employee continues to be disciplined, to give a verbal warning, then first written warning, followed by second written warning and then dismissal?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 02/09/2015 The LRA Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures recommends that, where following a disciplinary meeting, an employee is found guilty of misconduct, a first step would be to give him/her a formal oral warning or a written warning depending on the seriousness of the misconduct. It s...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Discipline Policies and Procedures