April 2011 #119 – Law Journals

Working Hours: A time bomb for employers

Robert Thomas and Dawn da Silva explore the legal implications of recent findings that longer working hours are causing rising sickness absence, stress and employee grievances ‘Organisations that are “running lean” in staff terms are more likely to experience serious problems that will affect productivity, work quality and, potentially, their competitive advantage.’ A number of …

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Sickness Absence: Fit for business

With the government embarking on another review of the UK’s sickness-absence system, Matthew Howse and Emma Damiral suggest practical ways for employers to get their staff back to work ‘The purpose of the fit note was to encourage employees to return to work in some capacity, with appropriate support, rather than stay off work because …

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Team Moves: Appeal court takes aim at poachers

The risks of seeking to recruit a whole team of staff from a rival employer before their employment ends have been highlighted by a recent ruling, explains Christine Young ‘Poachers (and, in fact, any new employer) will need to think about how they treat a new hire even before employment commences, given that they may …

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Equality Act: Duties on public bodies

Clare Parkinson examines the new single public sector equality duty in light of a recent finding that HMRC’s treatment of a disabled woman was discriminatory ‘Section 149 of the Equality Act widens the scope of the existing public sector equality general duties by requiring public authorities to have due regard to the need to “advance” …

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Corporate Manslaughter: Learning the lessons from the first prosecution

It may not be the landmark case hoped for, but the conviction of Cotswold Geotechnical points the way to significant fines following workplace fatalities in the future, argues Jan Burgess ‘Geotechnical disappoints because it fails to reveal anything about the way in which the new legislation will really work.’ In February, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd …

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Additional Paternity Leave: Father time

Paul Harrison and Stephen Ratcliffe discuss the impact of the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 and some key challenges arising from their implementation ‘European case law has generally found that women on maternity leave are in a unique position and so men have not been able to compare themselves to them.’ Paternity leave is, of …

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Flexible Working: Bending the rules

The government is repealing the proposed extension of the ‘right to request flexible working’ due to be implemented this month, and will impose a moratorium on new regulations for small businesses, report Stephen Ravenscroft and Helen Mulligan ‘Flexible working may present practical difficulties for employers, particularly in smaller businesses that often do not have the …

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