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Picasso HR sponsors two prestigious business awards
Calling all young business people and entrepreneurs
National Minimum Wage increase
The National Minimum Wage figures increase with effect from 1st October 2009
New statutory limit on a week's pay for redundancy calculations
The maximum weekly pay limit for statutory purposes is to increase with effect from 1st October 2009.
Calculating holiday pay for leavers
How does statutory holiday affect the pay owed to leavers?
Redundancy Payments in Insolvency Situations
How do you make redundancy payments to employees when the company is insolvent?
Social Networking and the Employment Relationship
Some FAQ’s
When an employee refuses to attend a meeting
What to do if your employee won't turn up to a formal meeting
Young Business Person of the year 2009
Picasso HR is delighted to be sponsoring the young business person of the year award for the 3rd year running. It shows our commitment to recognising young business talent in our region.
We are looking for individuals under 35 years old who are either employees or business owners. They need to demonstrate exceptional flair for business, examples of successes and strategic thinking. This year, we would like to know if the recession has had any impact on their business and if so how they have dealt with it.
Lina Hogg, Managing Director said “We know from our experience, that there are many high calibre business people out there. We would like to encourage employees who have made a significant contribution to their organisation to apply, as well as those who are business owners.”
The publicity for those shortlisted and the winner is phenomenal and the credibility an award can give is really worth having. “
Entrepreneur of the year 2009
Essentially, an entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business venture.
However, true entrepreneurship goes way beyond that simple definition. Few well known names come to mind when we think about entrepreneurship, like Bill Gates and Richard Branson.
Just who is an entrepreneur? Simply put, anyone who has ever looked at a problem and seen it as an opportunity is a likely prospect. Entrepreneurs are driven by the need to make their dreams a reality and they take calculated risks. Often money comes as a result of their motivation rather than the motivation itself. They often create their own luck through dogged determination and being in the right place at the right time!
We are looking for individuals who are business owners or hold senior positions in corporate organisations. So, what will we at Picasso HR be looking for when judging for this award?
• Vision, leadership and tenacity. The ability to motivate and be an inspiration
• An strategic mind that can think well beyond here and now
• Evidence of strong growth through strategic planning
• Participation in and contribution to the local community
• A high quality presentation of evidence
Closing date is 25/09/09
Do you match these criteria or know someone who might? We want to invite you to submit an application if you believe you match the requirements. For more information go to www.anglianbusinessawards.co.uk
The new rates for the National Minimum Wage from 1st October 2009 will be as follows:
- £5.80 an hour for adults (workers aged 22 and over)
- £4.83 an hour for workers aged 18 to 21 inclusive
- £3.57 an hour for young people
A young worker is someone who is older than mandatory school leaving age and younger than 18.
With effect from 1st October 2009, the maximum limit on a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy pay will increase from £350 to £380.
Now that the dust has settled following the staged introduction of statutory holiday entitlement, there is one issue which may still catch employers out. The issue is that of how to calculate holiday pay owed to a leaver.
The complication arises for employers who generously offer more than the statutory minimum, currently 28 days per annum. If, for example, you offer 25 days' annual leave and also grant Bank Holiday entitlement on top of this, the figure you use for working out pro rata holiday is 33 days, not 25. This ensures that you have incorporated the statutory minimum holiday figure.
As a worked example: an employee resigns and is due to leave on 30th September. The Company gives full time employees 25 days of holiday entitlement 'plus the usual Bank and Public Holidays'. The company holiday year runs from January to December.
The employee is entitled to (25 + 8 )days divided by 12 months = 2.75 days. This figure is multiplied by 9 months' service = 24.75 days. The Company should then deduct from this figure any holiday the employee has taken, plus the number of Bank Holidays which occurred during the period of service in the year. The remaining holiday entitlement should be paid to the leaver with their leaving settlement.
If you need help calculating holiday entitlements for your employees, contact Picasso HR.
When your company becomes insolvent it can become impossible to make the required redundancy payments to employees. Indeed, in some situations it can prove problematic finding the funds to make the salary payments that are due. In this circumstance it is likely that you will wish to do everything possible to assist your employees in obtaining financial redress and the following information is intended to help you to do this.
Where a company becomes insolvent it is possible for employees to claim the money due to them from the government. In this circumstance employees can claim for:
- Statutory redundancy payments
- Notice pay
- Unpaid wages of up to 8 weeks money
- Holiday that has been accrued but not taken. This is based upon the 12 months prior to the insolvancy and a maximum of 6 weeks will be paid
In order to make a claim employees must complete and submit a RP1 form with details of their claim. Forms can be obtained from the Insolvency Service together with full guidance for employees on how to proceed.
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have seen a dramatic increase in the last few years. Do you know what impact they might be having on your business?
Do you know what your employees are saying about your company and their colleagues on social networking sites? Do you know how much of their time at work they spend on social networking?
More a twit than a twitter
Here is a painful example of how NOT to use Twitter in the current economic climate or indeed at any time;
A lucky job applicant tweeted the following:
“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”
This tweet caught the attention of Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco. Needless to say he told Cisco about this.
These chat sites are compulsive for many, which means that if they are using it at work then it can potentially be a problem for the employer.
Some frequently asked questions
Q: Do employees have any right to use social network sites at work?
A: No, to put it simply. If you have computer users then our advice is to have a clear policy on whether it will be allowed. If it is allowed then how it will be limited e.g. to lunch breaks only and what might be considered ‘bringing the company into disrepute’. Ensure that you state in the policy your views on employees bring colleagues, suppliers, clients or associates reputation into disrepute. You should make clear how breach of the policy will be dealt with. It would be good practice to ensure you have something about this under the gross misconduct part of your disciplinary procedure.
Q: Can I search these sites for information on employees and when recruiting?
A: Some people choose to allow only certain people to have access to their site and then there are others who make their site public. Be carful about any recruitment decision you make based on what you find. The person may be bad mouthed by a disgruntled colleague or friend and therefore the information cannot necessarily be trusted. Also, beware of potential discrimination issues. Supposing the person reveals their sexual orientation, race or religious belief and if this information id perceived to have impacted your decision not to recruit then you may be faced with a discrimination claim. Bear in mind the potential age discrimination aspect due to the age profile of those who use these sites.
The Employment Practices Data Protection Code makes clear that vetting should be limited and employers should "only use vetting as a means of obtaining specific information, not as a means of general intelligence gathering". The code also deals with the issues of "unreliable sources", stating "do not place reliance on information collected from possibly unreliable sources. Allow the applicant to make representations regarding information that will affect the decision to finally appoint".
Q: What do I do about employees who bad mouth the company or their colleagues outside working hours?
A: You and your employees owe each other a duty not to act in a way that is likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence between employer and employee. This is often called ‘the term of mutual trust and confidence’. If you believe that what the employee has published causes a breach of trust and confidence then you may deal with this through your disciplinary procedure. There is such a thing as vicarious liability, which means that for instance if employee 1 makes a discriminatory remarks about employee 2 or has been ‘cyber bullying’ then the employer may be found to be liable for not having put adequate policies and procedures in place and ensured they were communicated on a regular basis.
If the comments made about the employer are defamatory there may be a case for libel proceedings against the employee!
If you would like a copy of 'The use of the internet' policy, give us a call on 01473 890037
Taking part in a formal meeting such as a disciplinary hearing or a redundancy consultation process can be stressful for employer and employee alike. But what can you do if the employee refuses to turn up to the meeting at all?
Can your employee actually refuse to attend a meeting with you? Well, as with most things in employment law, that depends on how reasonable you have been.....
In a formal meeting situation, the employee has the right to be accompanied by a work colleague or trade union representative. In addition, if they are facing disciplinary action, the employee should be allowed adequate time to prepare their own case and to look at any information / evidence which is to be considered at the hearing. For this reason, we recommend that you allow at least 48 hours between notifying the employee of the requirement for them to attend a hearing, and the meeting itself.
In some circumstances the employee may say they are unwilling to attend the meeting because they need more time to prepare, or their chosen companion is unavailable. To be seen as reasonable, you should postpone the meeting, but for no more than 5 days from the date of the original meeting. If they still refuse to attend, try and find out from them why they are not prepared to do so. Explain that the meeting is their opportunity to put their own views / case forward before the company makes any decisions about the situation and so it is in their own interest to attend.
If the employee refuses to attend because they want someone other than a work colllague or union representative present, review the circumstances before deciding your next steps. Check your policy: does it allow for someone other than a work colleague or trade union rep to accompany an employee to a formal meeting? You must comply with your own policy in these circumstances.
However, there may be other occasions where it would be approproriate to allow someone else to accompany the employee. For example, in cases involving sensitive personal issues, the employee may prefer to have a close family member present rather than have to disclose these details to a colleague.
In a recent case concerning gross misconduct, where an employee at a school was accused of inappropriate conduct with a pupil, the employee complained to tribunal that he should have been allowed to have a solicitor to accompany him at the disciplinary hearing. The court found that, given the serious nature of the allegations and the potential impact on his future career of a criminal record relating to child abuse, he should have been allowed a solicitor to accompany him. Such extreme cases are likely to be rare, but it may be worth considering an employee's request to be accompanied by someone other than work colllague or trade union rep where there are exceptional cuircumstances.
What about a situation where the employee makes no contact at all following the meeting invitation and fails to turn up? If the employee is off work the contract of employment still exists between employer and employee; the employee is therefore under a duty to comply with a reasonable instruction from a manager. If the meeting is being held to consider a disciplinary issue and you have offered the chance to positpone as above, but the employee still refuses to attend or simply fails to do so without a good excuse, offer them a final date and explain that if they fail to attend this time, the company will hold the disciplinary hearing in their absence and make a decision on whether a discplinary warning is appropriate. Remember that even where you go ahead with a disciplinary hearing in the absence of the employee, they still have the right to an appeal.
If they fail to make contact or respond to contact from the company after you have tried all the approaches above, write to them and explain that unless you hear from them within a certain time period (usually a week) then you will assume that they have chosen to terminate their contract. Their last day of employment will be the last day on which you had any contact with them.
Contact Picasso HR for help if you are faced with any of these issues. | 
