Quick tips for April (1): Grievances   If it's a complaint and it's in writing, it's almost certainly a grievance...

Quick tips for April (2): Bank Holidays for part-time staff   I don't like Mondays......

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007   Question: What have these two disasters in common? 1. The Herald of Free Enterprise sinking in 1987 (193 killed). 2. The Paddington rail crash in 1997 (7 deaths and over 150 injuries).

Forklift driver fined for causing accident   Sometimes in health and safety, however much you try you just can’t win. Take the case of Eardisley Sawmills, in Herefordshire.

Quick tips for April (1): Grievances

We are still regularly seeing examples of an employee making a scathing attack on an employer in a resignation letter, and the company doing nothing about it because the employee is leaving. Remember that even if they've already left, the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures still apply. If an employee has made complaints about work in a resignation letter it will normally constitute a grievance. Failure to comply with the statutory procedures leaves you open to automatic unfair dismissal.

For more information on how to deal with this type of resignation, please contact us.

Quick tips for April (2): Bank Holidays for part-time staff

We are often asked by clients to calculate annual leave and Bank Holiday entitlement for part-time staff. Perhaps the easiest formula to use involves a calculation in weeks as follows:

For Bank Holiday entitlement, divide eight Bank Holidays by the number of days worked per week by full-time staff. Multiply the result by the number of hours worked per week by your part-time employee, and this gives their Bank Holiday entitlement.

Example: 8 Bank Holidays / 5 days per week = 1.6

1.6 x 20 hours per week  = 32 hours of Bank Holiday entitlement

For those who don't normally work on Mondays, they can add the additional hours to their annual leave entitlement and take it when they choose, subject to your working arrangements over Christmas and the New Year.

The same principle applies to calculating annual leave entitlement for part-time staff. Take the holiday entitlement for full-time staff and divide this figure by the number of days worked per week by full-time staff. This gives you the number of weeks of holiday entitlement for your part-time member of staff. Multiply this by the number of hours they work per week, and this gives you the number of hours of annual holiday entitlement.

Example: 25 days holiday per year / 5 days per week = 5

5 x 20 hours per week   = 100 hours of annual leave entitlement

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

Question: What have these two disasters in common?

1. The Herald of Free Enterprise sinking in 1987 (193 killed).

2. The Paddington rail crash in 1997 (7 deaths and over 150 injuries).

Answer:  Both companies were charged with manslaughter and acquitted.

That wasn't really surprising because no large company has ever been convicted of manslaughter.

It’s not been for lack of evidence. In both the above cases, it was clear that senior management neglected their safety responsibilities.

But under the old law, it wasn’t enough to prove that management as a whole had been negligent. The prosecution had to identify one person (known legally as a controlling mind) to blame. But of course in large organisations, safety responsibilities are usually shared. Sometimes they get muddled and this in itself can contribute to disaster. Under the old law, the more the muddle, the more likely the company will escape. And they did. Time and time again.

So eventually the government decided it was time to stop wasting taxpayers money trying to prosecute large companies for manslaughter.

The Corporate Manslaughter Act, which came into force on the 6th April 2008, is the result.

Under the new law an organisation will be guilty of corporate manslaughter if a death is caused by a gross breach of senior management’s duty of care.

The key difference with the new law is that the prosecution doesn’t need to find one individual to blame. The courts' job will be to decide whether senior management as a whole have failed in their duty of care.

It is expected that fines for corporate manslaughter will be very high and may be based on the turnover of the company.

Individuals will not be prosecuted under this Act. But they can still be prosecuted for manslaughter under the old rules.

And will this new law affect Picasso HR’s clients? The answer is that it almost certainly won’t. The new law doesn’t impose any new standards or duties of care. It’s purpose is to punish the big companies who could have “got away with it” under the old rules.

The old law didn’t really have a problem with small companies, because it was relatively easy to identify the senior person to blame.

The fact is that only six companies have ever been convicted of manslaughter and they were all small companies.

Forklift driver fined for causing accident

Sometimes in health and safety, however much you try you just can’t win. Take the case of Eardisley Sawmills, in Herefordshire. The company put a lot of effort into training their forklift drivers. And they arranged regular follow-up refresher training and re-testing. 

Then one day, an accident happened. Gerald Wyatt was driving a truck with a big load on his forks. He couldn’t really see where he was going. Unfortunately he didn’t see one of his colleagues walk in front of the truck.

The result was a fractured pelvis. Months off work. And an investigation by the HSE.

Usually in these circumstances, it’s the Company that ends up in the dock. But not this time. HSE decided that the majority of the blame rested with the driver. Gerald Wyatt appeared before the Crown Court and was fined £1,750 for failing to take reasonable care of other persons.

Of course there are no winners here except the lawyers. The company may not have been prosecuted by the HSE but their insurers will end up paying out thousands on a civil action. The injured person will suffer disability and pain for the rest of his life. And Gerald Wyatt will never forget his day in court. 

The information in this newsletter is of a general nature and is not a substitute for professional advice. You are recommended to obtain specific professional advice before you take any action.

For further information, advice or assistance on any of the matters raised in this newsletter please contact Picasso HR on 01473 890037.

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