The impact of the arrest of an employee on the workforce

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 15/03/2016 'The PSNI have arrived at our office and arrested a member of staff. I understand the allegations concern a matter outside work. There are rumblings from other staff however that they will not continue to work with the employee who has been arrested. What can we do?'If you have not done so already,...

Workplace Investigations

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 15/02/2016 I am an HR manager and I have been investigating an allegation that one of our employees has been sending our confidential information to a competitor without any prior authorisation. I have taken several witness statements as part of my investigation, but given the gravity of the allegations, I do...

Difficulties in Paying the National Living Wage

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 22/01/2016 'I have become aware of an increase in the minimum wage which is to come into force in April 2016. We are a small business and do not think we will be able to afford to pay this to our workers. What can I do?'Rachel Richardson from the Employment Team in Tughans writes:The National Living Wage come...

Managing Sickness and Absence

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 08/12/2015 'One of our employees is currently signed off work with a medical condition which does not reflect the condition which the employee has informed us in emails that he is suffering from, being severe depression. What are our options – can we rely on the sick-lines, or do we need to seek a medical rep...

Workplace Pensions in Small Businesses

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 10/11/2015 We operate a small local company. I have heard a lot about auto enrolment and staging dates and requirement to provide a pension for our employees. Some of the staff are already members of an occupational pension scheme but I am confused as to what I need to do. How do I handle it? The obligation f...

Enhanced Maternity Pay

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 13/10/2015 Our company’s policy is to offer only statutory maternity pay, with no enhanced company maternity pay scheme in place. However, I have been approached by a manager who wants to provide enhanced maternity pay for a high-performing employee in her team. How do I handle it? Lindsay Gibson writes: Ther...

Post-Termination Restrictive Covenants

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 08/09/2015 I am worried about our senior employees joining a competitor and using our confidential information, if they leave employment with us. There are no post-termination restrictive covenants in their service agreements. How do I handle it? This is not a straightforward query and it is fraught with lega...

Representation in a Disciplinary Hearing

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 11/08/2015 One of our employees is involved in a disciplinary process. He has asked for a named trade union representative to accompany him to the disciplinary hearing. The Company have had issues with this particular representative before and would prefer that he did not attend as the employee’s companion. D...

Upholding an Appeal and Demoting an Employee

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 21/07/2015 One of our employees was dismissed for a recurrence of misconduct and he appealed the decision. I have decided to uphold the employee’s appeal against the decision to dismiss him, and want to demote the employee instead. How do I handle it? Lindsay Gibson writes:(A) Is there a Contractual Right to ...

Redundancy Selection

Posted in: How do I handle it NI on 09/06/2015 I am an HR Manager and am about to start a redundancy consultation exercise within our company, we plan to make around ten redundancies. I’ve been told that I can select employees for redundancy, without consulting with the employees at all beforehand about the redundancy process. I am concerned th...