October 27, 2026 1:37 pm
Published by SKHR
As you will be aware this Friday the duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace becomes law. So what are the minimum steps we recommend for all employers: 1. Ensure that you have a policy on anti-bullying and harassment and that this clearly explains that sexual harassment will not be tolerated in the workplace from employees or third parties. The policy should also explain that complaints will be taken seriously and that staff will be supported should they need to report any such incidents. 2. Run annual training on anti-bullying and harassment with a focus on sexual harassment for all staff and keep records of attendees. Train managers in how to handle complaints regarding bullying and sexual harassment. 3. Conduct a risk assessment annually and keep a...
October 26, 2026 4:35 pm
Published by SKHR
From 30th October trade unions will have the right to visit and communicate with workers in the workplace. This will apply to all employers with 21 or more workers. If the employer does not agree to a trade union’s request for access, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) can decide whether access should be granted and on what terms. There is also a Code of Practice setting out how the access regime should work in practice. Why should trade unions have the right to access the workplace? The purpose of the right is to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, and to facilitate collective bargaining. However it cannot be used to organise industrial action. What can trade unions do once they gain access to the...
July 2, 2026 4:01 pm
Published by SKHR
Given the forthcoming changes to the qualifying service needed to claim unfair dismissal now is the time to schedule review dates for any employees joining your organisation from July onwards. This is because any employee who joins your business from July 2026 onwards is likely to have completed six months’ service by 1 January 2027. Subject to the Government’s planned employment law reforms coming into force as expected, employees who are still employed on that date will gain the right to claim unfair dismissal. That’s a huge change. Until now, employers have generally had two years before an employee gained unfair dismissal rights. While there have always been exceptions (for example, discrimination and whistleblowing claims), employers have had a relatively long period in which to decide whether a...
April 23, 2026 11:08 am
Published by SKHR
Statutory sick pay (SSP) payable from day one of sickness From 6th April employees who are off sick no longer have to wait 3 days to receive statutory sick pay as this is payable from day one of absence. All employees are eligible for SSP regardless of their level of earnings. Those staff earning less than £123 a week will receive 80% of SSP. Employees only receive SSP for the days they are contractually required to work. They need to report their absence by the end of their first day of sickness. However do note that new employees who have yet to start work will not qualify for SSP if they immediately go off sick. Paternity leave and Parental leave become...
May 15, 2025 3:50 pm
Published by SKHR
Under the Data Protection Act 2018, individuals have the right to request the personal data that you hold on them. A request for such information is called a ‘subject access request’. The right permits individuals to see the information that you process about them, not to actually receive a copy of the information. However, it is likely that the easiest way to allow the individual to see the information is by sending a copy of it to the individual. Personal data A subject access request must be in relation to an individual’s personal data, including special categories of personal data. “Personal data” is any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in particular by reference to an identifier, including a name. “Special...
October 21, 2024 4:42 pm
Published by SKHR
As promised as part of their election manifesto, the Government has published details of its’ much-anticipated Employment Rights Bill. The Bill gives details of 28 proposed employment measures, but also makes clear that the Government will only start consulting on the proposed changes in 2025 and that the majority of changes will not come into effect until 2026, following a substantial transition period. This post covers the proposed changes to Unfair dismissal and Fire and rehire. Unfair dismissal What is the law currently? Currently other than in cases of automatic unfair dismissal, employees need at least two years’ service to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. In order to defend such a claim, employers need to be able to show they have a fair reason to dismiss...
May 13, 2024 4:09 pm
Published by SKHR
From October 2024 there will be a new duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and to make workplaces safer for all staff. In advance of this we thought it would be useful to give some examples of case law where employers have lost Tribunal cases due to claims of sexual harassment. KZ v The Nags Head Reading Limited In this case the employer was found to have failed to prevent a recurrence of sexual harassment by a third party towards one of its employees. The employee was working as a bartender on New Year’s Eve and was sexually harassed by a customer a number of times. A few days later the employee was grabbed by the same customer in front...
February 6, 2024 2:44 pm
Published by SKHR
You may recall that in July 2022 the Supreme Court issued its’ decision in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel regarding the correct calculation for holiday pay for staff with irregular working patterns. The decision ruled that staff who are only contracted to work for part of the year e.g. seasonal or term-time workers should receive the same statutory holiday entitlement as employees who work the full year i.e. 5.6 weeks holiday paid at the rate of their average weekly earnings. The Government has decided to reverse the decision in Harpur Trust v Brazel and will reintroduce the calculation of 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period as the way of calculating holiday for staff who work irregular hours e.g....
January 31, 2024 2:57 pm
Published by SKHR
We wanted to alert you to a number of changes to Employment law which are planned for 2024. Flexible working From 6 April 2024 it will be a ‘day one right’ for employees to request flexible working. They will no longer need 26 weeks’ service to make a request and neither will they have to justify how their request will impact their employer. They will be able to make two requests in any 12-month period and employers will need to consider each request and respond within two months. However this is still only a ‘right to request’ flexible working and so employers will still be able to turn down requests they cannot accommodate for one of 8 business reasons. Redundancy protection for staff from pregnancy and for 18...
September 28, 2023 11:18 am
Published by SKHR
We often get asked for help in finding a way to exit an employee from an organisation without following a formal performance management process. This is more common in the case of long-serving employees who have the right to claim unfair dismissal, as well as discrimination on the basis of their sex, race, age or other protected characteristics. As such these conversations need to be handled with care and we recommend discussing the approach you plan to take with us ahead of any contentious conversations with employees. What are the options and how does an employer go about it? Protected conversations Section 111A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 details the provision of ‘protected conversations’ aimed at facilitating candid conversations between employers and employees concerning the termination of employment on...
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