Health & Safety, Employment Law and Jobs - August 2009

Acas publishes discussion paper on agency workers
On 28 July 2009, Acas published its latest policy discussion paper exploring the issues facing agency workers in the workplace. This follows the Government consultation on proposals to implement the EU's Agency Workers Directive in the UK which closes in July 2009.

The paper looks at the implications of greater regulation for the 1 million plus agency workers in the UK (see comment below on actual numbers)  and asks whether our idea of what constitutes a typical or standard working relationship needs to change.  The Acas discussion paper also focuses on:

  • The different types of agency workers and their experiences of working in the UK
  • The government's plans to give agency workers the same 'basic working and employment conditions' as permanent employees after 12 weeks in a given post.
  • The relationship between agency, employer and worker and the challenges this presents. Just who is responsible for protecting the rights of agency workers - the agency or end-user?

The government is also introducing measures to give greater protection to those workers deemed to be 'vulnerable' - that is "someone working in an environment where the risk of being denied employment rights is high and who does not have the capacity or means to protect themselves from that abuse" (Vulnerable Worker Enforcement Forum Final Report).

There is some dispute over the number of agency workers in the UK. The BERR Survey of Recruitment Agencies (2007) reported that there were approximately 1.5 million agency workers in the UK, while the Recruitment and Employment Confederation puts the figure nearer to 1.1 million.

Download the Acas policy discussion paperwork from: www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=1304&p=0
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Swine Flu Microsite
Swine flu could have serious consequences for small and medium size businesses so ensuring your business is properly prepared is essential. In addition to the guidance, British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has compiled some 'best practice' examples of what businesses across the UK are doing to prepare for a swine flu outbreak. Each case study consists of short bullet points to give businesses some quick and easy ideas of policies that they themselves may wish to implement.

To read best practice examples please select the appropriate sector or size listed below.

Sector which covers Office, Retail, Hospitality and Manufacturing: www.britishchambers.org.uk/swine-flu-microsite/case-studies_8/case-study-sector.html
Size www.britishchambers.org.uk/swine-flu-microsite/case-studies_8/case-study-size.html
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wages up for low-paid apprentices
The minimum pay rate for apprentices has risen from £80 to £95 a week, after the numbers of young people joining the schemes dipped. which covers Small business (under 50 employees) and Large business (over 50 employees):

The TUC welcomed the change in the pay levels, from 1 August 2009, with young women likely to benefit the most. However, the average weekly pay for apprentices is more than £170 a week.

As apprentices are exempt from the National Minimum Wage, apprentices must be paid at least the minimum contractual payment, which from August 2009 has risen from £80 to £95 per week.

Female apprentices in hairdressing and childcare were among the lowest paid, the TUC said.

The new £95 minimum will benefit around 26,000 apprentices, mostly those in traditional less well paid sectors such as hair dressing and social care - of whom 90 per cent are women.

Latest figures showed that the numbers of young people who started apprenticeships in 2008-9 fell in England, although the total number rose. The number dropped 8.3% among 16 to 18-year-olds to 81,700, and the 68,000 apprenticeships started by those aged 19 to 24 represented a 2% decrease on the year before.  The total was boosted by a near-quadrupling of apprenticeships among the over-25s, to 46,800.

Source: www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_179599 and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8183958.stm
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Industrial Action: Strikes and Ballots
The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in Metrobus v UNITE, which is authority for the propositions that:

  • a union is obliged to inform an affected employer of the result of a ballot on industrial action as soon as is reasonably practicable, regardless of whether the ballot supports action or the union decides not to take action;
  • where affected members are partly covered by 'check off' arrangements, a union is obliged to provide with ballot and strike notices sufficient information to enable an employer to readily deduce the numbers, types and workplaces of 'non-check off' employees by providing lists and figures of affected employees, and an explanation of how they were arrived at, along with details of the 'check-off' employees.

The Court rejected arguments that the ballot and notice provisions of TULR(C)A 1992 were so onerous as to be incompatible with ECHR Article 11.

Source, Daniel Barnett's Employment Law Bulletin: www.danielbarnett.co.uk/
Case summarised by Ed McFarlane of EEF (www.eef.org.uk)
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Health & Safety: the catering and hospitality industry
The catering and hospitality industry covers people working in hotels, restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets, pubs and clubs and those working as contract caterers to other industries. The Health & Safety Executive announced on 7 August 2009, the launch of a rebranded website incorporating  a new design with new features, better navigation, resources, case studies and risk assessments.

Details at: www.hse.gov.uk/catering/index.htm
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Stress - video case studies
The new (announced on 7 August 2009) stress video case studies published by The Health & Safety Executive are designed to explain the manner in which organisations have implemented the changes, where they encountered issues, how these were resolved and the ultimate benefits they achieved.

All videos are based on real cases.

Watch the new stress video case studies at: www.hse.gov.uk/stress/experience.htm
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Government study shows benefits of further education to employment and future prospects
According to a Government report revealed on 12 August 2009, most college learners believe their course played an important role in getting a job:

  • In a survey of over 4,800 people who had completed a further education course and were out of work when they began their studies, 41% had secured a job two years after they had 'graduated', up from 34% the previous year.
  • Learners surveyed were asked whether they felt further education helped their job prospects after they had completed a college course in 2005/6. 62% of learners now in work said their course was either vital or helpful to getting a new or different job after college.
  • Among those seeking employment, 64% believed their college course improved their chances of finding work. College courses were also seen by many to boost promotion prospects and job security.

Source: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/clientmicrosite/Content/Detail.aspx?ClientId=431&NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=405784&SubjectId=36
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New guides on managing time off for employee representatives
Announced on 14 August 2009 and to complement its new Code of Practice on time off for trade union duties and activities, the Acas has recently agreed two new guides providing further information on the subject of time off for employee representatives.

The first of the guides deals with managing time off for union representatives, the second with time off for non-union representatives.

You can download the new guides from: www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2391
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The workings of Tier 2 of the Points Based System (PBS)
Meeting the needs of British workers while maintaining the interests of the UK economy, the Migration Advisory Committee recommends in a report issued on 19 August 2009. It says that immigration plays an important role in supporting the UK economy. However, the report recommends that the earnings thresholds for gaining points should be raised, jobs should be advertised within the UK for longer and the arrangements for intra-company transfers should be strengthened. Strong monitoring and enforcement of Tier 2 is also required.

Sponsored skilled workers from outside the EU can work in the UK under Tier 2 of the PBS. This gives British workers priority on all advertised jobs, but only where British workers are not available, Tier 2 will let companies employ people from outside of the EU, making sure that there are no skill gaps in the British economy.

The Home Office press release issued on 19/8/09 is available at: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=405980&SubjectId=2

An on-line copy of the report is available at: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/mac
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------38 per cent of large US companies have full-time email monitoring staff, claims research
Nearly 40 per cent of large US companies have staff whose main job is to monitor the outgoing email of colleagues, according to US data security research. More than a third of the companies surveyed hired staff to perform only that monitoring function.

Email security company Proofpoint interviewed email chiefs at 220 companies which employed more than 1,000 people. It found that companies were so worried about employees leaking information via email that 38 per cent of them paid other employees to monitor communications.

The survey suggested that companies have reason to be careful. Proofpoint said that 43 per cent of the companies told it that they had investigated email leaks of confidential information in the past year. Nearly a third of companies (31 percent, terminated an employee for violating email policies in the same period (up from 26 percent in 2008).

Blogs are also increasingly a source of concern for companies. The survey found that 18 per cent of the companies it spoke to had conducted an investigation into employees' use or blogs or message boards and 17 per cent had disciplined an employee for breaking company rules on their use. Workers had been fired over blog and message board use at 9% of the companies interviewed.

The research also uncovered the dissemination of sensitive or valuable company information through social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace. It found that 17 per cent of companies had had information exposed through those channels, and that 8 per cent had fired employees because of it.

Proofpoint said some data leaks being experienced by companies are related to the economic downturn. It found that 18 per cent of companies believed a leak was related to an employee who was leaving the company, and that 42% of firms believed that increasing layoffs at their firm created an increased risk of data leakage.

Morag Hutchison, an employment law expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said that if companies in the UK want to take action against individuals relating to their email or internet use, then they have to have clearly spelled out at the outset what is and is not allowed.

Read full story at: www.out-law.com/page-10290
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CBI proposes 5-Point Plan to tackle youth unemployment
Part of the government's £500m recruitment subsidy fund to help the unemployed should be redirected to help fund new apprenticeships, the CBI said on 24 August 2009, as it warned that youth unemployment is reaching unacceptable levels. The proposal is part of a five-point plan set out by the business group to help tackle the problem, and is announced ahead of GCSE results on 27 August 2009.

Under the CBI's apprenticeship proposal, £125m of the £500m recruitment subsidy fund to help the unemployed would be used to subsidise 50,000 new apprenticeships. Firms would receive a subsidy of £2,500 on average towards the cost of training each extra apprentice. Firms that have not taken on apprentices previously should be particularly encouraged to do so.

In addition the CBI recommends creating a separate new £25m fund that would be used to encourage firms to train more apprentices than they actually need to improve their prospects elsewhere in the sector. This would replace a previous £11m fund that did this successfully. Other proposed measures include companies providing more internships and work experience for young people.

Read the full story at: www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/bc2bef176a3c6580802576190035f9fc?OpenDocument
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Biocides consultation - still time to have your say
HSE seeks comments on a proposed European Regulation for the placing on the market and use of biocidal products. The European Commission has proposed a European Regulation for the placing on the market and use of biocidal products. Responses should be sent by 5 October 2009.

Read the biocides consultation document at: www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd222.htm
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Over £125,000 won back for workers
New figures released on 26 August 2009 reveal that since April 2009, the Government has won back over £125,000 in unpaid wages for agency workers. The Employment Agency Standards inspectorate, which over the last year has boosted its powers and doubled in size, has won back more than twice as much money for workers since April 2009 than in the entire previous year.  Since 1 April 2009, EAS inspectors have recovered £126,949 for workers. The figure for the previous year was £63,341. Money was recovered from agencies operating in a wide range of sectors including cleaning, teaching, hospitality, engineering, modelling and entertainment.

Agencies that break the law could face prosecution and on 6 April 2009,new laws came into force that allows courts to impose unlimited fines for the most serious offences. Rogue agencies could also be banned from operating for up to ten years.

The Employment Agencies Standards inspectorate is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. To find out more about the EAS, please visit: www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-agencies/index.html

Read the full story at: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/clientmicrosite/Content/Detail.aspx?ClientId=431&NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=406142&SubjectId=36
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Skills training and health and safety overshadow green issues for small businesses
According to the 'Business and the Environment' survey carried out by the University of Middlesex, commissioned by the UK200Group, which represents independent accountants and lawyers, 80% of respondents classed environmental issues as a high priority.

However, measures such as reducing energy costs, which was a priority for 28% of the businesses surveyed and waste reduction (a priority for 21% of respondents), were overshadowed by concerns over updating staff training and skills (51%) and health and safety (46%).

Companies were also asked whether they currently have green policies in place setting out their environmental aims and procedures. In all, 58% said they have not.

Read the full story at: www.fpb.org/news/2239/Skills_training_and_health_and_safety_overshadow_green_issues_for_small_
businesses.htm
© Copyright Bizezia Limited, publisher of LEARNEZIA