Refusing to Work at Christmas: How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 16/11/2018 I am a HR Manager at a company which provides emergency repair services. One repair engineer has to be available every day, including on public holidays. An engineer has complained about his annual leave request for Christmas Day being refused – but the other engineers had already booked the day of...

Failure to Inform or Consult Prior to TUPE Transfer: How do I handle it?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 18/10/2018 "I am a Human Resource Manager in a business which is being sold imminently with all staff transferring to the purchaser. There is very little time to inform and consult the employees about the sale before it happens. I believe that they may be entitled to bring claims for a protective award. Who c...

Migrant Workers Leaving Before Brexit: How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 18/09/2018 I am a Human Resource Manager in an agri-food sector company. Recently, we have found that our migrant workers are beginning to leave before Brexit. What can I do to encourage the employees to stay or source alternate workers to fill their vacant positions? The UK government has confirmed that fu...

Emailing Outside of Office Hours: How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 21/08/2018 I am the HR Manager at a large organisation. All our senior employees are issued mobile phones for work use. One senior employee has complained about regularly having to answer emails outside of his contracted hours in the office and that it’s becoming part of his job – how do I handle it? The “wor...

Unfit Employees and Rotational Shift Patterns : How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 17/07/2018 We have recently introduced rotational shifts into our workplace. We have an employee who says he is unable to work the shift pattern due to a medical condition. We need all the employees to participate in the shift to make it work efficiently. What should I do about this employee? 1. Ascertain ...

What information must we provide to affected employees in a TUPE transfer?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 19/06/2018 I am an HR Manager of a business which is to be sold and I believe that the provisions of TUPE will apply to the sale. I know that I have to inform the affected employees (there are 12), but how far do I have to go? Can I just tell them the date of the transfer, or should I provide more specific in...

Swearing in the Workplace: How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 17/04/2018 An employee has just complained about his manager swearing at him. This is a tough environment – people swear all the time and the humour is pretty black – how do I handle it? In many industries swearing forms part of the language of the workplace; swear words are normalised and are seldom noticed,...

Removal of an Employee at the Request of a Client: How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 20/03/2018 We have a number of service contracts with large organisations in Northern Ireland. One of our major clients has asked us to remove our employee from their site. The client has not complained about the employee’s work performance but instead about allegations of criminal activity against the empl...

Interviewing a Potential Employee – How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 20/02/2018 I am responsible for our recruitment and selection processes, and am concerned about the diversity of our workforce. I don’t want our company to miss out on the best talent because of unfair assumptions made by an interviewer. How do I handle it? The interview is the final hurdle in many recruitme...

Bullying and Harassment – How Do I Handle It?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 17/01/2018 “I am an HR Manager and recently received a written complaint from an employee who told me that his colleague was calling him a “tinker” and a “gypo”. When he challenged his colleague and asked him to stop, he was told it was just a bit of “banter”. I do not know what the legal ramifications of t...