Legal   2011

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Welcome to our Legal Eagle page.

Employment legislation is constantly changing and considering the changes in October 2010 and the changes which took place in February 2011, we have updated our Legal Eagle News:

National Minimum Wage from 1^st October 2010

Tribunal Compensation Limits post 1 Feb 2011

Helpful table for 2011 Bank Holidays in England & Wales

Flexible Working - Right to an extension

“Fit Notes”

Maternity and Paternity Leave Changes

Equality Act 2010

Agency Workers – Equal Treatment

Abolition of Default Retirement Age

Step Guide to Redundancy Procedures

National Minimum Wage from 1^st October 2010

                      Workers aged 21 and over -          £5.93per hour

                      Workers aged 18-20 -                   £4.92 per hour

                      Workers aged 16-17 -                   £3.64 per hour

 If you have an Apprentice from the 1^st October 2010, they are entitled to a wage of £2.50 per       hour. This is to be applied as a single rate to those apprentices currently exempt from the National Minimum wage.

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Tribunal Compensation Limits post 1 Feb 2011

       Weeks pay                                      £400.00

       Maximum basic award                    £30 x £400.00

       Maximum statutory redundancy     £as above

          Maximum compensatory award       £68400.00

          Guaranteed day rate (lay offs)          £22.20

1. The statutory paid holiday entitlement has risen to 5.6 weeks from 1st April 2009.  For those working a five day week this is a raise to 28 days.  Part time workers must receive a pro-rata allowance.
2. Those working a 6 day week still have an entitlement of 28 days, as the entitlement is capped at 28 days.

3. As the increase in holiday is a beneficial change in the terms and conditions of employment for the staff, there is no need to reissue contracts or give employees time to approve.

4. If your holiday year does not run from April to March, the additional holiday entitlement will be calculated by multiplying the proportion of workers’ remaining holiday year by the additional holiday entitlement that applies in that year.

5. Bank Holidays may count towards the 28 days.

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       Helpful table for 2011 Bank Holidays in England & Wales

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Flexible Working - Right to an extension

From the 6^th April 2011 the right to flexible working will be extended to cover parents of children under the age of 18.

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“Fit Notes”

From the 6^th April 2010 the old style sick note will be replaced with a “fit note”.

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Maternity and Paternity Leave Changes

On the 6^th April 2010, the Additional Paternity leave and pay scheme came into force. These changes apply to parents of children who are due on or after the 3^rd April 2011 (or adoptive parents with notification that they have been matched with a child on after the 3^rd April 2011.

The changes allow for eligible employees to take up to 6 months leave to care for a child if the child’s mother returns to work having not exercised her full entitlement to maternity/adoption leave.

From the 3^rd April 2011 there will be an increase in pay for statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay from £124.88 to £128.73

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Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act came into force on the 1^st October 2010. This brings together under one statute all the legislation that previously covered discrimination on the grounds of Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage and Civil Partnership, Race, Religion and Belief, Sexual Orientation.

The Act also deals with harassment and victimisation.

If you are an employer, please do not hesitate to contact us should you need have any queries in relation to the Equality Act or advice on how it may impact your business or what updated obligations and employer may have under the new act.

Legislation covering other forms of discrimination is still in force for example, part time workers, trade union activity.

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Agency Workers – Equal Treatment

The Agency Workers Directive has been implemented by the Agency Regulations 2010 and will come into force on the 1st October 2011. This change will give agency workers the right to the same basic working and employment conditions (this is limited to conditions relating to pay and working time) they would receive if they were engaged directly by an “end user client” to do the same job.

Agency workers will also be entitled to access on-site facilities (provided by the “end user client” and to be advised by a client of vacancies which arise in the client’s business.

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Abolition of Default Retirement Age

From the October 2011 the default age for retirement will be abolished. From the 6^th April 2011 transitional arrangements will come into force.

The Transitional period will last for 6 months and during this time employers will not be able to issue new notifications of retirement. However, an Employer can continue with retirement plans that are commenced prior to the 6^th April 2011 if (in motion)

a) A notification of retirement is issued by the employer prior to the 6^th April 2011

b) The date of retirement is before the 1^st October 2011 and

c) The requirements of the statutory procedure are met

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Step Guide to Redundancy Procedures

1.   Gather all Contracts of Employment for the employees that may be affected and review your Redundancy Procedures.

2.  Take legal advice to ensure compliance, particularly if you do not have the above two    documents.

3.   Announce a redundancy situation to all staff that may be affected.

4.   Consider any alternatives to redundancy (short time. Lay off, shared working, etc)

5.   Prepare a selection matrix based on objective criteria.

6. Identify a Staff Representative/Trade Union Representative to represent Employees during consultation (employees have the right to elect a staff representative to liaise with the Employer regarding the redundancy procedure).

7 First Consultation meeting with Trade Union/Staff Representative ( if Individual Employees they should be accompanied by a work colleague or Trade Union Representative)  – the meeting should deal with:

·         Redundancy Situation

·         Redundancy Procedure

·         Identify Employees at Risk – identify pool for selection

·         Matrix Criteria

·         Alternatives to redundancy

8.   Carry out selection exercise in accordance with agreed procedure/matrix.

9.  Invite selected employees to Individual Consultation Meeting in writing and inform them of their right to be accompanied by Trade Union Rep/Staff Rep/Work Colleague. This second Consultation Meeting is to confirm the employee is at risk of redundancy, discuss reasons for selection and any alternatives to redundancy.

10. Deal with any appeals regarding selection/procedure.

11. Calculate redundancy pay and pay in lieu of notice.

12. Final meeting to confirm redundancy and to provide written notice to terminate and information about calculated redundancy pay/notice pay.

13.  Write to Employee confirming dismissal and stating reason.

This is a basic step guide. Within every single step of this guide there are matters that you need to be aware of and Annette Jackson is more than happy to discuss your redundancy situation and help you through what is a very complicated process.

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