Harassment has been in the legal news again this month. Anthony harasses Belinda if he does something in relation to a protected characteristic (race, sex etc) which has the purpose or effect of violating Belinda’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her. The connection between the protected characteristic and […]
Menopause and productivity
Research by Health and Her and the Office for National Statistics has shown that 14 million working days are potentially lost to menopause symptoms each year. Research revealed that a third of women in the 50-64 age category were taking time off work due to menopause symptoms. Over 370,000 women admitted they had either left […]
Unfair dismissal
For a dismissal to be fair, an employer must have a genuine belief in an employee’s guilt, based on reasonable grounds. Usually, having reasonable grounds involves a proper investigation. Is this always necessary? In Radia v Jeffries International, the employee was a managing director of an FCA-regulated financial services company. This is a regulated role […]
Is employee monitoring by artificial intelligence (AI) the way to boost productivity?
Some UK businesses are using AI package Isaak to monitor employees at work. Data gathered can include information on who employees are emailing, who accesses and edits files and even which employees are meeting and when. Instead of relying on managers, computer algorithms are being used to manage people. The system can show how collaborative […]
Unfair dismissal and permanent health insurance (PHI)
PHI provides employees with pay during long term sickness or incapacity. Policies can define incapacity differently. Some policies define it as an employee’s inability to return to their actual job. Some policies define it as an inability to return to any job. Sometimes the courts get involved if the parties don’t agree on the meaning […]
Directors’ liability
The High Court has recently looked at whether directors can be liable for a company’s breach of employee contracts. Directors are governed by the Companies Act 2006, which requires them to act in good faith in the best interests of the company, taking into account the interests of employees. Directors must also exercise reasonable care, […]