Month: June 2017

The new Collective Redundancies & Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2014, (known as TUPE 2014), will come into force tomorrow, 31 January.

The reforms, which follow a consultation last year, are aimed at reducing bureaucracy and increasing flexibility around the regulations, which protect employee rights when the business or undertaking that employs them is transferred to a new employer.

Changes to the regulations which might benefit employers include:

• The Service Provision Change (SPC) originally introduced in 2006 will continue but only where the new activities being carried out are “fundamentally the same as the activities carried out previously”
• Employers are now able to count pre–transfer consultation towards collective redundancy timelines
• Current employers have an extra 14 days to provide employee liability information
• The new employers will be bound by the terms of a collective agreement as it is ‘frozen’ at the point of transfer
• The dismissal of an employee under Regulation 7 of TUPE 2006 will now only be automatically unfair if the reason for the dismissal is the transfer itself
• A change in the place of employment will now be a justifiable reason for dismissal, even where TUPE has led to the dismissal
• Employers with fewer than ten employees will be allowed to consult directly with employees in relation to a relevant transfer where there is no recognised union.

For information on any element of employment law please contact Vaishali Thakerar at Lawson West Commercial on 0116 212 1000.

New research by the Institute of Leadership and Management has found that nearly half of UK managers work at least one extra day of overtime per week. Almost two thirds of workers surveyed said they felt under pressure to put in the extra hours, with 13% working two days of overtime each week.

The situation is attributed to heavy workloads and the ability to check emails on smartphones even when not at work, accounting for some 94% of managers working above their contracted hours each week.

The report also showed that 76% of workers frequently work late, nearly half regularly work through their lunch break, and 38% work at weekends. Just 13% reported feeling that they had a good work-life balance.

Charles Elvin, ILM chief executive, commented: “Excessive hours are not sustainable – there are only so many times you can burn the midnight oil before your performance, decision making and wellbeing begin to suffer.

“This is why it’s so important for organisations to equip staff with the fundamental planning and time management skills they need to cope with their workloads more effectively.”

With 86% of people regularly checking their work emails on evenings and weekends, and 21% accessing their email more than 10 times per day outside office hours, smartphones are exacerbating the problem.

Elvin warned this “obsessive checking” of email when out of the office could lead to “unhealthy behaviours”: “We all know how stressful it can be to receive an urgent late night email when you feel compelled to respond immediately,” he added.

“Organisations can help address this with some clear guidelines on email etiquette, including when best to send and reply to important messages.”

For information on setting staff procedures, please contact Vaishali Thakerar at Lawson West Commercial, solicitors specialising in employment law on 0116 212 1000.