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Harassment: Cyberbullying – Covid and beyond

Sean Nesbitt and Alex Stones discuss the growing risk of online harassment of staff members, whether by colleagues, ex-employees seeking revenge or cyber campaigners If employers do not allow voices to be raised and enable digital activism to be channelled internally, the first they hear about such allegations may be when they have already gone …
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Corporate social responsibility: Managing the Covid-19 impact on modern slavery prevention

Paul Reeves, Tony Woodcock, Leanne Raven and Fran Legg look at how businesses can tackle the heightened risk of modern slavery abuses resulting from the pandemic Reputation is fragile and failure to adhere to ethical practices is a guaranteed way to tarnish a company’s name. Amid the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic, employers have not …
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Workforce changes: Redundancy: ten alternatives to consider

Beth Hale and Sophie Rothwell explore the alternatives to redundancy that businesses could consider as the furlough scheme in its current form comes to an end Stop press On 24 September, the Chancellor announced a Job Support Scheme which will commence on 1 November 2020 and run for six months. Under the scheme, the government …
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Legal news: Employment update

Claire Scott and Chris Evans round up recent case law affecting employers and their advisers HMRC has civil and criminal powers to investigate and is likely to want to take a firm stance if it finds that employers have abused the system. EAT considers whether beneficial TUPE-related changes are void In Ferguson v Astrea Asset …
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Furlough errors: Working while furloughed – manage the risk of furlough fraud allegations

Employers could face employment tribunal claims and HMRC penalties if they have any employees who have worked during furlough. Alan Lewis, Caroline Glacken, Sarah Wallace and Ami Amin look at steps employers can take to rectify errors We have now started to see employees resist their own redundancy by alleging that they have completed work …
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Coronavirus job retention scheme: New law to ensure furloughed employees receive full redundancy payments

At the end of July, the government issued new regulations on redundancy and notice pay for furloughed staff, as well as further details of the job retention bonus. Amanda Sanders and Aida Geragusian examine these developments It is possible to make employees redundant and to give them their notice while on furlough. On 17 July, …
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Gender equality: The impact of Covid-19 on the gender pay gap

The coronavirus outbreak may widen the gender pay gap and have a distorting effect on the next set of statistics, warn Jennifer Millins and Martha Averley It is becoming apparent that this recession is different and working women are shouldering the burden of the economic turmoil caused by Covid-19. Less than two weeks before the …
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Covid-19: Back to the office

Joanna Chatterton and Ed Livingstone discuss how employers can manage the return to the office following government guidance for businesses to bring an end to homeworking arrangements where possible Employees should be encouraged to consider their personal circumstances and whether or not they should (or can) return to work. On 20 July, the government announced …
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Dismissals: Manage the risks of a fire and rehire strategy

Although making changes to employees’ terms and conditions can avoid the need for redundancies, there are numerous pitfalls that employers need to watch out for, warns Claire Wilson Firing and rehiring should be considered as one of the last-resort options and the employer should have done everything it can to get the employees’ agreement to …
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Discipline and grievance: Employment procedures in the time of a pandemic

Brigitte Weaver answers some common questions about holding disciplinary and grievance hearings remotely Going through an employment process is always stressful for those involved but working from home, being isolated and having caring responsibilities can make things much more challenging for a lot of employees. Over the past few months, questions from employers about dealing …
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