Employment & HR

There’s nothing in law that says you must have a staff handbook, but it’s recommended you do, even if you don’t have many employees. What are the benefits and how should you set your handbook out?

When an employee fails to report to work without permission and without any legitimate reason or explanation, it’s an unauthorised absence. What steps should you take to deal with it?

New annual leave accrual rules now apply for irregular hours and part-year workers, but only in respect of holiday years starting on or after 1 April 2024. What’s the problem here and is there a potential way around it for new workers?

New legislation. The government has announced that it’s to introduce new legislation to clarify that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) can’t legally be enforced if they prevent victims from reporting a crime or from accessing support or legal advice. NDAs include settlement agreements and confidentiality clauses. The legislation will ensure information related to criminal conduct can be discussed with the following groups without fear of legal action: (1) police and other bodies that investigate or prosecute crime; (2) qualified and regulated lawyers; and (3) other support services that operate under clear confidentiality principles, such as counsellors, advocacy services or medical professionals. The other parts of settlement agreements, etc. will retain their legal effects. ...

Q. An employee has requested to take four weeks’ annual leave to attend the Euros in the summer. Although he’ll have sufficient leave remaining, our policy provides that we don’t allow more than two weeks’ annual leave at any one time. Can we decline his request? ...

A restaurant chain has removed its service charge and replaced it with a “brand charge”, seemingly to circumvent the new tipping legislation. Is this an option?