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Dear Subscriber,
With a new coalition government now in power, things are about to change in the world of employment law. Also, the World Cup is just around the corner; an exciting time for football fans but a bit of a headache for some employers. Fit notes have been with us now for only a few weeks, yet the feedback received has not been very positive. Read on for information and commentary about all these issues.
Please contact me if you would like to find out a bit more about any of these issues. If you need any help or advice why not take advantage of my free initial consultation.
Please forward this email to any of your contacts who might find it of benefit.
Regards
Peter Etherington
Tel: 01664 430373
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| The Coalition Government's Plans |
| Changes to Retirement Age and Flexible Working |
Last week the new Coalition Government published its plans: "The Coalition: our Programme for Government". The key issues of interest in terms of employment are:
Both of these measures are likely to have serious consequences for employers.
The government was committed to reviewing the default retirement age this year, and most commentators believed that it would be raised to 66 or 67. The fact that it is to be removed altogether means that employers will not be able to rely on retirement bringing employment to an end in a dignified manner; in future if an older employee has started to "go off the boil" employers will need to follow capability procedures, including a series of warnings, in order to dismiss them fairly.Whilst many older workers remain productive well past the age of 65, there are some who don't. Up to now many employers have allowed them to "coast" into retirement but that will no longer be an option.
The impact of the plans for flexible working are difficult to anticipate. If the new measures mirror the measures already in place for parents, then employees will have the statutory right to request to work flexibly. Employers will need to ensure that they consider the requests carefully but they are likely still to be able to turn them down where operational considerations take precedence. |
| World Cup Fever? |
| Planning ahead to avoid World Cup clashes |
Many of your employees are likely to be quite passionate about football and will be looking forward to this year's World Cup tournament. Whilst this can be an exciting time, it can also throw up a number of problems for employers. Some employees may be tempted to throw "sickies" in order to be able to watch matches; some may over-indulge whilst watching matches to the extent that they are not fit to work.
Depending on the nature of your work, you may wish to embrace the World Cup and to facilitate interested employees' ability to participate. You may wish to set up screens so that matches can be watched at work, or allow on line viewing. But this will not suit every workplace and you need to mindful of the fact that this could prove to be a distraction which can lead to a drop in productivity. You also need to be mindful of the many employees who will have no interest in the World Cup and may be resentful of any special treatment afforded football fans.
The important thing is to anticipate and plan. If you communicate in advance with your employees it is less likely that you will encounter problems. You may wish to encourage employees to use their holiday entitlement to watch games; remind them of your alcohol policy (if you have one); remind them that unauthorised absence is a serious disciplinary matter. You may also wish to consult with employees to gauge how much interest there is in the World Cup and to see whether they may wish to have some sort of flexibility to work over the period. |
| Are Fitness Notes Fit for Purpose? |
| GPs struggle with new certificates |
Fit notes replaced sick notes on 6 April. The new form presents GPs with two options: "you are not fit to work" and "you may be fit for work taking account of the following advice". In connection with the second option, there are four tick boxes: "a phased return to work", "altered hours", "amended duties" and "workplace adaptations" with space below for comments.
In a number of cases I have seen fit notes where the second option has been ticked by the GP but they have not then gone on to give any advice or to tick any of the boxes. Clearly this presents employers with a problem - how can they establish whether they should let the employee return to work if they have no idea what sort of adaptations, if any, they should consider? Employers are within their rights to insist that an employee remains off work where the second option has been selected by the GP, and this is likely to continue to be the default position if GPs do not give enough information.
The difficulty for GPs is that they are not occupational health experts and they normally have very little information about the work that the employee carries out or about the workplace. No doubt they are also concerned about liability if they indicate an employee may be fit to return and they then subsequently suffer a decline in health.
If you have experienced difficulties with the new fit note, please get in touch as I would love to hear your story. |
