The qualifying period for employees to bring an unfair dismissal claim increased from 1 to 2 years on 6 April 2012 and applies to all workers commencing employment from that date. The Government strategy behind this move is to encourage employers to recruit workers and to make it easier for them to dismiss poorer ones.  Read more »

We spend almost a 3rd of our lives at work so it’s no wonder the workplace is one of the most common places for conflict.  I read a survey recently that said one fifth of workers hate their colleagues and almost two-thirds gossip about them.  Those actual statistics may or may not be true, but  Read more »

You may be surprised to know the number of agency workers currently working in the UK: the stats suggest there’s around 1.3 million and just under half of those are working on assignments lasting in excess of 12 weeks.  With the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, coming into force on 1 October 2011 giving certain equal  Read more »

I was interested to read that a recent survey carried out by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills found that only a third of SMEs are at all confident that they understand their current employment law obligations, whilst 20% said they understand their obligations but worry whether they get it right.  Possibly the surveys  Read more »

The UK Bribery Act, came into force on 1 July 2011. It establishes a criminal offence for non-compliance, with heavy penalties including unlimited fines and prison sentences. Employers need to act now to understand how this Act impacts them and put in place proportionate measures to mitigate any risks. So what is bribery? The Act  Read more »