Employment law is one of the fastest changing areas of UK law. Its continuous stream of new legislation and developments make it difficult for both employers and employees to keep up to date. Below I have provided a helpful round-up of recent developments to keep you in the know…..

Last night my Mum gave me the annual reverse psychology reminder to not buy anything for her for Mother’s Day. Upon darting to the calendar I was relieved that it’s not this Sunday, but next Sunday 18th March 2012.

 As today is “National No-Smoking Day”, and with a cancer charity calling for the introduction of an outright smoking ban in Wales, it has never been more important for businesses to know how to handle members of their staff who smoke.

Even vehicles that are used by more than one person in the course of work must also be smoke-free, regardless of whether they are in the vehicle at the same time.

 I’m employed by this company, and so are you!

As I leapt out of bed this morning and tore off the page of my calendar, it was no surprise to me what was displayed…of course it’s Tuesday! But then reality hit me as hard as one of Cupid’s sharpened arrows that it is indeed the feast of the patron saint of lurrrve, St. Valentine himself.

So today is apparently ‘Blue Monday’, labelled as the most depressing day of the year as a result of another equation created by some mad boffin combining different factors such as weather, debt and motivation.

As there is no legal definition of an employed or self employed person, there is an abundance of case law that has sought to deal with the many situations where a person’s employment status is in doubt.

As an employer, not only is it a matter of referring to your contracts of employment, but it also depends on the actual working arrangements of the individual.

A recent case heard in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that dismissing an employee who refused to agree to a pay cut was fair.

Garside & Laycock Limited had highlighted that they required to cut costs to increase their margins, and as such, requested that each employee agree to a 5% pay cut.

Mr Booth was the only employee out of a total workforce of 77 who refused the pay cut, and as a result, he was dismissed.

 
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ALT) have announced that last minute crunch talks with the Government to protect their pensions have been unsuccessful, and as such, they have no other option but to go ahead with their planned strike on Thursday.

Whether a school is completely closed or partly closed will depend entirely on the proportion of the staff who are members of the striking unions.

You would be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu over the Government’s recent consultation on Parental Leave , particularly given that laws governing parent leave were only altered in April. Rather than following its strapline aim of “Modernising Workforces”, the Government’s proposals once again appears to tether the employer in incommodious red tape.