You are currently browsing the Blog - EMS - Business Consultants weblog archives for May, 2011.
23/05/2011 by Geoff.
The new rules applying from 6 April 2011 are now known, with flexibility being the name of the game.Annuity rates are very low at present, with no signs of that changing, and the new rules will allow you to draw income from your pension fund without having to buy an annuity. If you have a secured pension income of at least £20,000 a year you will even be able to access 100% of your pension fund if you wish (with an income tax charge on it of course) and the options in your particular circumstances need to be reviewed.
Posted in Business interest, Current Issues | No Comments »
23/05/2011 by Geoff.
Appeals from tribunal decisions are tricky. The Employment Appeal Tribunal is not interested in appeals where you say the tribunal believed the other side instead of you. The only basis on which you can appeal a tribunal decision is showing that it made an error stating or applying the law.Sometimes you need detailed legal advice before deciding whether to invest more money and time into challenging a tribunal decision. The Employment Appeal Tribunal allows 42 days for an appeal, and will hardly ever extend this deadline, even if a party is not legally represented.
It is therefore important to lodge an appeal and the accompanying documents within the time limit to protect the position, even if it has not yet been possible to get full legal advice on whether to lodge an appeal.
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
16/05/2011 by Geoff.
The tribunal compensation limits have increased, in line with inflation, for all dismissals on or after 1st February 2011.The main changes are that the maximum week’s pay for redundancy payments (or a basic award) has increased to £400, leading to a maximum award of £12,000 (30 weeks x £400). The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal has increased to £68,400.
Posted in Business interest, Current Issues | No Comments »
16/05/2011 by Geoff.
The tribunal system is up for reform again. The proposals, which are currently under consultation, come under 4 main headings:
a) Introducing fees in employment tribunalsb) Increasing qualification periods for unfair dismissal from one to two years.
a) Enabling greater use of alternative dispute resolution tools such as mediationb) Requiring all claims to be submitted to ACAS in the first instancec) Including a statement of loss as required information for claims involving monetary compensationd) Having a formal offer to settle process with costs consequences.
a) Witness statements to be read in advance by the judge, and not read out aloudb) Withdrawing the payment of expenses in tribunal hearings to discourage non essential witnesses from appearingc) Extending the case categories where judges can sit alone in tribunals to include unfair dismissal.
a) Introducing the use of ‘legal officers’ to deal with some case management functionsb) Making the power to strike out more flexiblec) Allowing a judge to be able to issue a deposit order at any stage of the proceedingsd) Increasing the deposit and cost limits for weak and vexatious claims.These are all good for employers. Less good, however, is the proposal that any employer which loses a claim shall have to pay a fine, on top of the compensation for the employee, of 50% of the award made (up to a maximum of £5,000).
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
16/05/2011 by Geoff.
The Government has announced that it will abolish the default retirement age (DRA) with effect from 1st October 2011. After that date, most employers will be unable to automatically retire employees at 65 unless they can prove that the retirement age is a reasonable and appropriate method of achieving a sensible business objective. There is little assistance on what will be sufficient to justify a retirement age after October.So, after October, employees who do not wish to retire will have a right to remain in work – and Companies face a potentially substantial age discrimination claim if they dismiss them because of their age. Accordingly, employers are going to have to focus to a far greater extent on implementing efficient performance management processes to manage performance levels.
Posted in Business interest, Current Issues | No Comments »
16/05/2011 by Geoff.
A recent case has highlighted the importance of ensuring that clauses in employee contracts relating to bonus schemes should be very carefully and tightly worded. The employer in question wished to incentivise a recently hired salesperson, so offered bonuses for meeting a range of sales targets. The employee’s performance, however, was quite exceptional – so exceptional that they ended up being owed over £100,000. This was even though the contract included a clause enabling the employer to limit bonuses paid during the year. This was not used, however, and the employee refused an offer of a bonus worth 130% of annual salary. When the case reached the Court of Appeal, it was felt that only a better worded capping clause should prevent the full payment from being made, and the salesperson won their case. This is one of those ‘if only’ stories, where the employer will continually regret having neither tightened the capping clause nor invoked the one limiting bonuses paid. To ensure that your business never falls into similar traps, ensure that a specialist solicitor is involved in creating the appropriate clauses, and ascertain that your processes are sufficiently robust to take appropriate action when it is needed.
Posted in Business interest, Tips and Ideas | No Comments »
03/05/2011 by Geoff.
While it is a myth that employees are automatically entitled to a day off on a bank holiday, employers are required by law to give full-time workers the minimum annual leave as laid down in the Working Time Regulations (1998). This stands at 28 days, including bank holidays – so for many, this year’s additional ‘holiday’ marking the royal wedding does not necessarily mean that they will get more time off.
If however a contract of employment stipulates “20 days’ holiday plus bank holidays”, then a worker will be entitled to the additional day over and above the standard number of eight UK bank holidays. Employers whose contracts simply give an entitlement of “28 days holiday per year” may well close down on the day itself, yet still require employees to take the day out of their annual allowance.
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »
03/05/2011 by Geoff.
April saw the introduction of a new right for parents of children aged under 18 to request flexible working rights from their employers – a move towards an extension of flexible working rights to all employees, which is likely to come into force in April next year. A recent report from Orange says that 74% of all UK SMEs are planning or considering the introduction of flexible working options this year. It was reported that improved staff efficiency was a main driver of the change. It is important that businesses adapt some of their practices to embrace the new legislation. It is recommended that they consider how this change might impact on other practices and policies and ensure that all employees with responsibility for staff working hours are fully aware of the change.
Posted in Business interest | No Comments »