Employment Law Birmingham News

Government plans to enable micro firms to dismiss employees without good reason risks creating a perverse barrier to economic growth by discouraging small businesses from hiring more workers.This is the view of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in response to the call for evidence by the Department for Business, Innovation ...

Proposals to examine the current dismissal process have been announced by the Government with the publication of a Call for Evidence. Through the Call for Evidence, the Government is seeking to establish a strong evidence base on the current understanding of the dismissal process, including awareness, understanding and use of the Acas Code of Pract ...

Employment tribunal changes have come into effect from Friday 6th April as part of the Government's employment law reform measures. There were 218,000 tribunal claims in 2010-11, a rise of 44% since 2008-09, with each business spending nearly £4,000 per claim on average defending itself. There is an additional average cost of a £1,900 to the taxpay ...

Workplace relations body Acas has called for more employers to consider using mediation at work to help resolve disputes and avoid potentially costly and stressful employment tribunal claims. The call comes after a study carried out by Acas in 2011 found that just 5% of employers have used mediation to solve a workplace dispute.The study also revea ...

The Government has announced the next steps in its comprehensive review of employment laws. New plans to improve the way in which workplace disputes are resolved have been published alongside an “Employer’s Charter” – the measures are designed to give businesses more confidence to take on workers and support growth.The Government has announced the ...

New figures have shown that employers are struggling to hang on to workers, despite the turbulent employment market, with more than 283,000 managers walking away from their jobs in the 12 months to September 2011. The 2012 National Management Salary Survey, published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR, collected data from 38,84 ...

The TUC has warned against reducing consultation rights during collective redundancy exercises, claiming that it could cost jobs, damage workforce morale and increase unemployment.The government is considering whether the 90-day consultation period, which applies when more than 100 jobs are at risk of redundancy, should be reduced to make it easier ...

The latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) quarterly Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey has found that the first quarter of 2012 will be the most difficult quarter for the jobs market since the recession, as a greater number of private sector firms surveyed are planning to make redundancies. The report’s net employment balan ...

A raft of reforms have been announced after the Red Tape Challenge looked at how to simplify the Equality Act and remove unnecessary legislation.Businesses and the wider public will be able to have their say on the reforms in a series of consultations. These will look at proposals to streamline the employment tribunal process and to scrap the Third ...

Employees who don't get deeply involved with their work are more likely to suffer burn out or emotional exhaustion and have lower levels of well-being, according to a new study.Researchers from Kingston University's Business School gave 227 British workers, mostly in their 30s, standard tests used to measure engagement and motivation. They found th ...

In the Queen's Speech at the official state opening of Parliament, the Government has outlined its priorities for the coming Parliamentary year.With regards to employment, the Government intends to introduce an Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which will:Overhaul the employment tribunal system.Transform the dispute resolution landscape.Streng ...

New research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that three quarters of employers report a lack of leadership and management skills and too many managers have an inflated opinion of their ability to manage people. According to the CIPD’s research, 72% of employers report a deficit of leadership and management ...

UK organisations are struggling to cope with Olympics staffing challenges, as many employees (21%) are willing to take unauthorised time off to watch high profile events. Even the risk of being caught is not a deterrence, and UK bosses admit that almost a third of skivers are likely to go unpunished.Research sponsored by SunGard Availability Servic ...

A recent Eurobarometer poll has found that 47% of those interviewed believe that the gender pay gap is best tackled at EU level. However, respondents were almost evenly divided on how best to close the gap.While the pay gap between women and men doing the same job with the same qualifications is seen as a serious problem by almost seven in ten Euro ...

A recent report has revealed the extent to which women are under-represented in senior executive and management positions across Europe.According to the data published by Mercer, the ratio of senior executives and managers that were female averages 29% in countries across Europe compared to 71% of men. Mercer has also revealed that despite organisa ...

The TUC has published the first in a series of newsletters to help vulnerable workers find out more about their basic employment rights at work.The TUC has published the first in a series of newsletters to help vulnerable workers find out more about their basic employment rights at work. ...

The Office for National Statistics has published its Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which is based on a 1% sample of employee jobs.Key points include:In April 2011 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £498.For men, full-time earnings were £538, compared with £440 for women.Median gross weekly earnings for all employees we ...

Small businesses are looking to employ in the coming months as small business confidence picks up after a quarter of shedding staff, new figures from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) show. Figures from the FSB's ‘Voice of Small Business' Index shows a net balance of 8.1% of small firms laid off staff in the three months to February – t ...

The Supreme Court has given its judgment in the case of Seldon v Clarkson Wright and Jakes (A Partnership). This case concerns the scope for justifying direct discrimination on the ground of age and in particular a mandatory retirement age contained within a partnership agreement. Mr Seldon joined the Respondent law firm in 1971 and was made an equ ...

The European Commission's latest annual report on gender equality has found that improving equality between women and men is essential to the EU's response to the current economic crisis. "The economic case for getting more women into the workforce and more women into top jobs in the EU is overwhelming," said Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the E ...

A recent report from work-life charity Working Families has revealed that many parents are facing impossible choices and discrimination at work.The report, which was based on calls to the charity's free legal advice line, found that employers are less willing to consider a variety of working patterns, and are imposing changes which undermine parent ...

In advance of announcements on legislative change to maternity and paternity leave, a new study for Working Families and Netmums has found overwhelming opposition to plans to reduce maternity leave to 18 weeks.The Government has proposed in its Modern Workplaces consultation that maternity leave be reduced to 18 weeks, and the remaining leave curre ...

A recent study by the International Labour Office (ILO) has found that the current financial crisis has led to a significant increase in workplace inequality across Europe.  The study, 'Work Inequalities in the Crisis: Evidence from Europe' analyses how workplace issues, such as working conditions, wages and incomes, employment and gender equa ...

In its response to a government call for evidence on TUPE, the TUC warns that changing current legislation could also lead to an increased involvement of the private sector in public services, with contractors competing for business on lower wages rather than on the quality of the service they provide.TUPE protects employees' terms and conditions o ...