News
Employment Law Update (December 2009)
End-of-Year Quiz
It's nearly the end of 2009 and many business owners will be
breathing a sigh of relief that they have made it to 2010; it has
not been an easy business climate.
In the meantime, the lawmakers have carried on regardless with a
host of legislation affecting businesses which employ people.
Of course, as a valued Mentor client, the e-bulletin, Legal Update
and our employment law team will have helped to keep you fully
up-to-date on all developments – so you'll no doubt find our
year-end quiz a piece of cake. Even so, there's been so much
happening that you might have missed something.
Why not try our quiz and check you're fully up-to-date?
Questions
In memoriam
1. What statutory rules affecting employment rights died
in April 2009?
Births
2. What new arrival joined the employment law world in
April, the latest in a long and distinguished line?
3. What new rules affecting those working with children
and vulnerable adults came into force on 12th October –
but without their central database?
Honours
4. Which bearded businessman was elevated to the House of
Lords this year – and hired as enterprise car?
Paying the price
5. Who hired an illegal housekeeper – and paid the
penalty?
Moving on up
6. What amount did a week's pay for redundancy purposes
increase to in October?
7. What can employers in the restaurant and other service
sectors no longer use towards paying the National Minimum Wage?
8. What, since April, is 28 days or 5.6 weeks?
9. Who, apart from parents of children under 5, disabled
children under 18, and carers of people over 18, can since
6th April request flexible working arrangements?
Nearly gone
10. Can employers still lawfully require staff to retire
at age 65?
Answers
1. The Statutory Dispute Resolution procedures were
abolished from 6th April.
For more information, see our news story:
New rules on discipline and grievance
handling now in force (April 2009)
2. The new ACAS Code of Practice on discipline and
grievance handling in the workplace came into force from
6th April.
3. The Vetting and Barring Scheme came into force on
12th October.
4. Lord (formerly Sir Alan) Sugar was hired by the
Government as an "enterprise champion" and was given a seat in the
House of Lords in June.
For more information, see our news story:
You're Hired – Alan Sugar to advise
government on business issues (June 2009)
5. Baroness Scotland – the Attorney General – fell foul of
the Home Office's Civil Penalty Scheme for failing to check the
immigration status of a person she hired as a housekeeper.
For more information, see our news story:
Attorney General fined for hiring illegal
worker (Oct 2009)
6. Statutory Redundancy Pay increased to £380 per week in
October.
For more information, see our news story:
Redundancy Payments to increase (May
2009)
7. Since 1st October, employers can no longer
use tips received by staff towards paying them the National Minimum
Wage.
For more information, see our news story:
Tips will no longer count towards the
National Minimum Wage (May 2009)
8. Statutory minimum annual holiday entitlement increased
to 28 days or 5.6 weeks from April 2009.
For more information, see EL Essentials –
Minimum Annual Holiday Entitlement
9. From April, parents of all children aged under 17 have
the right to request flexible working arrangements from their
employer.
For further information, see:
EL Essentials – The right to request
flexible working
10. Following a recent ruling in the Supreme Court,
employers can continue to require employees to retire at age 65,
provided they follow the correct procedure. However, the
ruling makes clear that changes to this rule may need to be
made.
For further information, see our news story:
Retirement at 65 legal – for now (Oct
2009)
How did you score?
8-10 Well done! You've pretty
much kept up to date in a difficult year. But make sure you
look up the answers for the questions that floored you – and try
using the keyword search facility on our website to find even more
information.
5-7 Not bad. It's
understandable if some changes passed you by in this busy
year. But it is worth doing some homework on getting to grips
with the changes you've missed. Click on the links after the
answer to each question to find a quick summary on our website.
Under 5 You've clearly been very
busy "minding the shop" – but you have let some important
developments in employment law pass you by. You may be taking
risks by not bringing yourself up to date. Many of the
changes this year are new minimum rights for staff, or things that
mean you risk a financial penalty if you don't comply with
them.
And finally…
After such a busy year on the employment front in 2009, 2010
promises further changes with a general election due to take place
before the summer.
We'll be keeping a close eye on what the parties are promising,
with the usual regular updates in our e-bulletin.