Month: February 2022

 

The past couple of years we have seen a rise in the stance against racism all over the UK.

From the larger organised movements such a Black Lives Matter, to small individual stances against people or companies, the change across the nation has not gone unnoticed.

Although we, as a nation, are speaking out against racism, it is evident that this has not yet been eradicated. We have however seen in recent years employees being less afraid to speak out about the treatment that they have suffered. We have also found that employers are taking more of an active approach to fight against this type of hate crime.

What does the law say about racism at work?

Race Discrimination is defined in section s9(1) of the Equality Act 2010 which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. You are protected under the Act if you ‘share the same racial group’.

There are four types of discrimination that you could suffer. (To summarise):

• Direct race discrimination
  You have been treated less favorably because of your race.

  Example:  you were not offered a promotion because you are Caribbean.

• Indirect race discrimination
  A requirement is imposed by your employer which causes particular problems due to your race.

  Example: the requirement by your employer to not wear turbans.

• Racial harassment
  Unwanted conduct because of your race.

Example: being called derogatory names or being subject to racist jokes.

• Racial victimisation
  Suffering a detriment because you made a complaint.

Example: you raised a concern at work regarding the treatment you suffered, however, now your manager is refusing to engage with you and unfairly criticising your work.

Is everything really as straightforward as it seems?

As lawyers, we know that in terms of Race Discrimination claims, they are very difficult to prove.

The difficulty lies when nothing explicit has been said or done but it is more of a feeling suffered rather than an obvious act against you.

Things you can do:

Try to establish a particular pattern of behaviour – whether that is said or unsaid. Check if your employer has the adequate training facilities or company policies. Are you the only one that has been suffering this or is there someone else who is feeling the same way?

Rebekah Brown, Solicitor
Lawson West Solicitors, Leicester

“As a black ethnic Caribbean woman, I can understand the concerns of speaking out, especially if you are the only ethnic minority in your team or in your company and you are afraid of repercussions. You are afraid of losing your job.

Sometimes, a simple conversation with the person who is treating your badly or an informal conversation with your manager can solve the problem. Sometimes more will need to be done and for instance a grievance will need to be raised and you will have to follow the companies’ disciplinary procedures. What is important to say is that we spend most of our lives in the workplace environment, so speaking out against the treatment you have suffered is incredibly important and it is hopeful if you do, it will help bring change to your workplace.”

 

If you are affected by racism at work and don’t know how to raise it with your employer, or your employer is likely to be unsympathetic, or a co-worker is racially abusive, or racism is affecting your job or career, there are things you can do. Speak to one of our experienced employment solicitors and we can provide the best advice for your own situation. Contact Us.

More reading:

• The Discrimination section of the Equality Act 2010

• More about the Employment Law team at Lawson West

 

 

 

What are the different types of Arthritis?

There are multiple conditions associated with arthritis, see the A-Z list here. The common ones include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Gout
• Psoriatic arthritis

What are the Symptoms of Arthritis? 

How Does Arthritis Affect Employees in the Workplace?

A YouGov research study of over 2,000 people with arthritis conditions analysed the impact of arthritis on their job and their work environment. The following results clearly show that having arthritis whilst working can significantly affect one’s ability to do the same job and for the same length of time:

• 9% had to reduce their hours

• 10% had to change the type of work they do

• 13% had to take time off work and 21% had to take one hour or more off work per month due to their condition

• 22% reported additional stress at work because of their condition

• 22% felt less confident in their ability to do their job

• 21% had to give up work due to their osteoarthritis condition; and

• 25% of people with rheumatoid arthritis had to give up work.

Facts

Looking at the eye-watering statistics, it is no wonder that arthritis and related musculoskeletal pain conditions are one of the primary health concerns facing employees and their employers in the UK:

• 3 million people have a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition such as arthritis or back pain in the UK. Almost one third (32%) of the population. That’s 10.2 million people between the ages of 35 and 64 – when many people are still working age.

• Around 8.5 million people have osteoarthritis in the UK.

• 10 million people have back pain in the UK.

• 7 to 2.8 million people have fibromyalgia in the UK.

• 3 million people have osteoporosis in the UK.

At Work With Arthritis

It is clear that millions of people are trying to juggle staying in work whilst living with a painful, sometimes progressive and incapacitating condition.

Many jobs require strength and dexterity, especially manual jobs or repetitive jobs. Arthritis affects all types of people in all types of work environment. Agricultural and office workers are just as prone to symptoms as factory line workers, warehouse operatives, retail workers, servicemen and engineers. Arthritis shows no discrimination and anyone in any job role can be affected.

Arthritis and Employment Law

See our web page and information about our employment law team.

Britain is a nation that “puts up and shuts up” when it comes to arthritis and workplace health due to people’s willingness to suffer in silence. However, employees with arthritis should feel able to speak to their employer about their condition and the impact on their job, and employers should feel able to speak to employees about their symptoms and offer support and understanding.

Not only that, employers have a legal responsibility under The Equality Act not to discriminate against an employee with a disability – a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-today activities.

Often whilst working, people who are suffering with long term conditions like arthritis are not aware of their rights under the Equality Act 2010. Many employers simply do not understand the true extent of how life debilitating arthritis can be. Normal daily work tasks and activities can become impossible and minor changes to an employee’s desk and workstation are often not enough.

“Substantial” means something more than minor, but that could fluctuate and may not be present all the time. “Long term” means the effect of the impairment has to last, or is likely persist for at least 12 months. “Day-to-day activities” means everyday activities for most people, such as using a computer, writing, sitting down and standing up.

• If you are suffering from arthritis or a long-term condition which has a serious negative affect on your daily work activities, then your rights are covered under the Equality Act 2010. Your employer has a duty to treat you fairly and must make reasonable adjustments to enable you to work which could involve providing additional equipment, support or altering your working arrangements to ensure that you are not at a disadvantage when compared to others.

• Importantly your employer cannot dismiss you or force you to take early retirement because of your disability.

Ashley Hunt, Employment Solicitor and Director at Lawson West Solicitors comments:

“For every person who suffers with arthritis at work, there’s an employer who needs to be supportive.

It can often be the case that those with symptoms actively choose to alter their role because they simply cannot undertake the same tasks or produce the same level of productivity as before, so taking on lighter duties can often be welcome. In my experience, an understanding negotiation between boss and employee often results in an outcome suitable for both sides. It is good to have a legal representative onside though, should an employer be less than understanding.”

If you think you have been subject to disability discrimination at work, please contact the Employment Law team here. We act for arthritis-suffering employees across the UK and can help negotiate your position with your employer to a satisfactory outcome and provide helpful support.

Arthritis – helpful links with more information

• Exercises to help arthritis – and more exercises to help with arthritis

• Rheumatoid Arthritis booklet – “I Want To Work”

• An Employers Guide to Support Employees with Rheumatoid Arthritis – An Employer’s Guide

• Versus Arthritis

• Living with Arthritis

• NHS – Arthritis

• Arthritis Action

• National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society

Facing a new work year can be emotionally daunting.

Anxiety, pressure, disciplinary action, difficult colleagues, unrealistic expectations, Covid-19, redundancy – are all familiar problems for people facing a new year at work in 2022.

At Lawson West, our employment team of solicitors would like to know the ‘Top Work Worries‘ facing you in the workplace in 2022.

We’re conducting a two week anonymous survey from today. So, tell us your Top Work Worries and we will report the findings on our website and social media in February. 

Click the image icon below. Thanks for taking part!

 

 

Ashley Hunt, Director and Employment Solicitor
Lawson West Solicitors, Leicester

 

Weetabix in Northamptonshire has been in the news recently as a large employer who sought to renegotiate the terms and conditions of some of its engineering employees. This activity was challenged by the Trade Union Unite as a ‘fire and rehire’ scheme.

What is a Fire and Rehire scheme?

• A fire and rehire scheme is simply where an employer asks an employee to agree to changes to their contract of employment.

It is important for employees to look at their contract of employment and any associated handbook to see what terms and conditions can be changed unilaterally (i.e., without the employees’ consent). For any terms and conditions that require consent, and the employee does not wish to consent to those changes, the employer will often suggest that it will simply dismiss the employee for refusing the changes, and then offer them re-employment under a new contract of employment which contains the terms which they had wanted to include in the employee’s older contract.

Clearly, one of the options available to employees in these circumstances is to take industrial action, which the affected employees of Weetabix chose to do from September to November 2021 through their union Unite. The purpose of this was presumably to bring the employer back to the negotiating table to help find a compromise that worked for both parties. The story was picked up in the national media.

Where industrial action fails (or is likely to fail) to achieve a compromise, the employer may continue with its fire and rehire tactic.

The employee then needs to consider what their options are. Ultimately, there is very little realistic prospect of stopping a dismissal before it happens, so the employee will have to rely on a claim for unfair dismissal in the Employment Tribunal. The reason for their dismissal is likely to be their refusal to agree to the employer’s proposal, which the employer is likely to call a reasonable request. This could fall under the fair dismissal category of conduct or, more commonly, ‘some other substantial reason’ (SOSR).

The employer will still need to be able to justify that the dismissal was fair, which will usually involve looking at the employer’s reasons for imposing the changes and what alternative options were available to them. Ultimately, this will be a fact-sensitive consideration for the Employment Tribunal, so each employee’s prospects of winning their unfair dismissal case will be different.

During the pandemic, several high-profile disputes have emerged around the use of fire and rehire at employers including British Airways, Centrica (British Gas), Tesco and Sainsbury’s (Argos).

A January 2021 poll for trade union umbrella body the Trades Union Congress estimated that 9% of workers had been the victim of fire and rehire tactics since the first lockdown in March 2020, having been told to re-apply for jobs on worse terms.

 

ACAS on the subject of Fire and Rehire

Following calls to improve best practice guidance on the subject, in November 2021, the arbitration service ACAS issued their findings on ‘fire and rehire’ tactics. They warned employers:

“Our new advice is clear that fire and rehire is an extreme step that can seriously damage working relations and has significant legal risks for organisations.”

“Tensions can arise if employees feel that they have not had the opportunity to inform decisions around proposals or do not support the changes.”

“ACAS advises that the practice of fire and rehire is an extreme step that can damage staff morale, productivity, working relations and can also lead to industrial action.”

Law on the subject of Fire and Rehire

The current Employment Act 2002 is the legislation governing employment contracts and employee rights. However, in June 2021, Labour MP Barry Gardiner aimed to progress The Employment and Trade Union Rights (Dismissal and Re-engagement) Bill, which specifically dealt with the issue of fire and rehire.

The Bill, which is supported by over 20 trade unions, aims to:

1. Introduce a new duty for employers to consult employees in certain situations when they might be looking to dismiss or change the work terms of 15 or more employees. Any changes to an employment contract aren’t valid unless this consultation was done;

2. Provide additional employee protections, by:

• • prohibiting employers from including in employment contracts a right to vary terms in ways less favourable to employees, without employee consent; and

  • making it easier for employees to bring claims for “unfair dismissal” in cases of fire and rehire; and

  • provide additional legal protections by making it easier and quicker for industrial action to be taken in cases of fire and rehire.

1.  

The new Bill is on its second reading through Parliament and debate is due to continue on 18 March 2022, so we look with interest to see the next phase in this vitally important legislation.

 

If you are affected by a Fire and Rehire tactic by your employer, or you’re an employer wishing to introduce new employment contract terms, or a Trade Union representative looking for legal insight, then please contact Lawson West for help and guidance on this subject. Our legal service is national. Contact Us.