Can we offer a disabled employee lower paid work if deemed unfit to fulfil their role?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 16/01/2017 We have an employee who has a disability and have had him assessed by Occupational Health in relation to his ability to continue to carry out his role and responsibilities. Occupational Health has confirmed he is not fit to carry out those duties. We do, however, have alternative work he could do ...

How do I Handle an Unauthorised Absence?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 20/12/2016 I am an HR Manager and have received an email from an employee who has told me that he will be leaving the country for a few days to attend a family wedding. He did not seek my prior agreement to this request and since the email I have not heard from him, several days have passed. As far as I am co...

Are individuals engaged on a casual basis entitled to statutory rights?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 14/11/2016 I regularly engage individuals on a casual basis to carry out work for my company. Some are now saying that they should have certain rights and payment from me. I have always considered that they are self-employed. How do I handle it? Whether individuals are self-employed, company employees or w...

What documents are discoverable in employment tribunal proceedings?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 11/10/2016 I am an HR manager and our company has received a Notice for Discovery as part of industrial tribunal proceedings from an ex-employee. I have gathered all information relating to the claim, which also includes some of my own personal notes, as well as emails between another manager and me, regardin...

Taking disciplinary action against disabled employees for absence

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 14/09/2016 We have an employee whose sickness absence is poor and we are considering disciplinary action under our Attendance Policy. The employee is disabled. What can we do? In considering disciplinary action against a disabled employee, you should be aware that you may face allegations of discrimination ...

TUPE Regulations and Maternity Rights

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 18/08/2016 We’ve just bought the business and assets of a company, and its employees have transferred to us under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. We’ve only been responsible for these new employees for a short period of time, and now one of them has given notice of ma...

Do we have to interview a candidate that has disclosed a conviction for murder?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 14/07/2016 We are a small organisation and currently advertising for a role within the Company. Due to the nature of our operations it is likely that the successful post holder will interact with children. One of the applicants has disclosed a conviction for murder and we would not want this person represen...

Employees Who Send Offensive Tweets about Managers

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 14/06/2016 Rachel Richardson from the Employment Team in Tughans writes: Twitter is one of the biggest social media applications to impact on the workplace and more and more often, employers are facing issues arising from employee misuse. This then calls into question the grey lines which separate an employee...

Can we insist that an employee on long-term sickness returns a company car?

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 09/05/2016 We have an employee absent due to long term sickness. The employee has been absent for over 6 months and we have now received a sick line for another 2 month period. He has the use of a Company car. Can I recover the Company vehicle whilst he remains on sick leave? I would suggest you look first...

Covert Recording of Disciplinary Hearings

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 12/04/2016 'I am an employer and recently held a disciplinary hearing with an employee. I suspect they were covertly recording the meeting on their phone. If this is correct and clearly they did this without our consent then presumably such evidence could not be relied on by the employee in later tribunal pro...