Avoid temptation to over compensate because of pregnancy or child birth
A recent case in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has highlighted that employers must take care when using selection criteria in a redundancy exercise, and be particularly conscious not to unfairly favour an employee on maternity leave in comparison to other employees. The case (Eversheds Legal Services Ltd v Belin (2011)) involved a male employee, […]
Is the use of a photo on a CV a help or a hindrance?
The inclusion of a candidate’s photo on a CV is not a practice which is widely used in the UK unless specifically required by a hirer or recruiter. This is different from some other countries where it is normal practice. This begs the questions should we be including photos on CV’s? Are there benefits to […]
Frequently asked questions – holidays
The holiday spirit has been in full swing in recent weeks and here at Lawspeed we have noticed an increase in enquiries about the subject. Therefore, we thought it would be useful to include some general points about holidays in this month’s AgencyZone: How much is the holiday entitlement? From April 2009, the rate increased […]
HR v FD – the AWR divide
Commenting on the prospect of final guidance being issued soon on the Agency Workers Regulations, Ravi Murphy, director of the recruitment law specialist Lawspeed, said “the way in which the new laws are explained in the guidance will be of key importance for agencies and hirers alike and may reduce friction within hirer organisations”. She […]
ARC think-tank on employment tribunal reform provides crucial input into government consultation
Hirers and senior recruitment professionals unanimously rejected the government’s proposal to impose a financial penalty on employers for breach of employment laws, at a think-tank meeting held by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) to provide input into the government’s consultation on employment tribunal reform. ARC brought together its members and senior HR practitioners to put […]
MSC Legislation poses a very real threat to agencies
The announcement in the press that a recruitment agency and its directors are being pursued for £10 Million by HMRC under the Managed Service Companies (“MSC”) legislation acts as a stark warning that by working with companies falling within the scope of this legislation, agencies are exposing themselves to significant financial and reputational risk. The […]
BIS praises ARC’s “extremely valuable” meeting on the Agency Workers Regulations guidance
Recruitment consultants and HR managers seized the opportunity to influence government guidance on the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) 2010 in an interactive meeting hosted by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) and key representatives from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on 12 April. The draft guidance was issued on 4 April, with […]
Women in the boardroom
On 24 February 2011, Lord Davies reported on his independent review on the subject of women in the boardroom. Current trends show that in the top FTSE 100 companies women hold only 12.5% of the directorships. Lord Davies is recommending in his report for government that UK listed companies in the FTSE 100 should be […]
Changes to the powers of the Advertising Standards Authority
From 1st March 2011, the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) is able to take action against companies which publish misleading claims on their own websites and any other spaces they control, for example on social media websites. Prior to March 2011, the ASA was only able to monitor paid for space. This extension of power is […]
Employment Tribunal reform
A recent survey by the CIPD has underlined how important the recent government consultation on the reform of the Employment Tribunals system and ‘resolving workplace disputes’ will be. According to the figures in their ‘Conflict Management’ report published earlier in March more than two out of three employers (69%) believe that they have no effective […]