This is the first in a series of blogs to mark our 14th birthday on 1st May 2021. The background to my thinking here is a little odd, but the theme of these blogs is based on ‘The Elephant in the Room’. All the things which employers do not want to talk about or deal […]
Written by HR Advisor Michael Mason Depending on your point of view, the recent decision by an Employment Judge that Veganism could (and I use the word could advisedly!) be protected under the Equality Act 2010 as a philosophical belief akin to a religion may have been something of a shock. But what lay behind […]
What do you do when someone is reaching what used to be referred to as ‘retirement age’? Care needs to be taken when you are dealing with employees of a certain age; they should not be treated any differently or discriminated against just because of their age. Employers that compulsorily retire employees, or attempt to […]
There are three main reasons why staff don’t stay in a business… The first is to do with not actually having the right person doing the role that needs doing. This normally comes down to the recruitment process where the job either wasn’t properly defined, or the criteria weren’t properly set, or the person being […]
Avoiding Pay Differences The Equal Pay Act came into effect in 1970. It prohibits less favourable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions. What does this mean? What it doesn’t mean is that men and women have to be paid exactly the same exact amounts of money. But, if you’ve got […]
Two things have happened this week which have made me think about the wording of recruitment adverts: 1) A contact of mine advertised for a young, dynamic person – thus opening themselves up to an age discrimination claim, as an older person may arguably be more dynamic than a young person. 2) The Army has […]
We were having one of our regular in-house training sessions on Wednesday and got into a discussion about bullying and harassment in the workplace. Whether as a result of the #metoo campaign or not, we are seeing a significant increase in accusations and employers are having to spend more and more time investigating claims, obtaining […]
Employers are obliged to protect staff from bullying and harassment. Generally, this is in terms of discrimination, but may include anything from their favourite football team, what a person wears, their hobbies or their mannerisms. Employers are obliged to ensure that the work environment is mentally safe for everyone and therefore free from bullying […]
Well written policies and procedures which are communicated and applied consistently are the key to ensuring that the risk of discrimination is reduced as much as possible. Employees (as well as workers and job applicants) could bring claims for discrimination on the basis of Age, Gender, Race, Beliefs, Marital Status, Disability and Sexual Orientation. […]
I am absolutely useless at guessing a persons age. Whether they are a child, a young adult, a mature adult or an octogenarian, I am just one of those people who can’t tell how old a person is. I was once told that we needed to organise a gift for a fellow member of an […]
