Employment Law Update: Quick fire – November 2017
30 November 2017
The latest decision in the ongoing series of ‘gig economy’ worker-status cases, with the EAT’s decision in the Uber case being handed down, the protection afforded to trade union members, the Court of Appeal’s recent decision on an employer’s imputed knowledge of protected disclosures, and an ECJ decision on risk assessments for breastfeeding mothers are covered in this month’s Quick fire!
Mental health at work
A recently published independent review, Thriving At Work, looks at how employers can better support the mental health of employees.
The government-commissioned review, by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer, makes a wide range of recommendations to improve the mental health of all those currently in employment, including those with existing mental health problems.
The report sets out the ‘mental health core standards’, a framework for a set of actions for organisations of all sizes to implement, drawn from existing best practice. These standards include producing and implementing a mental health at work plan and developing mental health awareness among employees. Further guidance and tools to help implement the standards are included in Annex A of the report.
The report also outlines a series of more ambitious ‘enhanced’ standards for employers who can, and should, do more to lead the way. It recommends that public sector employers should implement both the core and enhanced mental health standards. It also makes a number of recommendations for government, including legislative change to enhance protections for employees, particularly those with fluctuating mental health conditions.
A copy of the report is available here. The government’s response, with details of any recommendations it proposes to take forward, will be published in due course.
NMW – Social Care Compliance Scheme
The suspension of national minimum wage enforcement for social care providers, in respect of sleep-in workers, has now been lifted by HMRC. Enforcement action was temporarily suspended between 26 July and 1 November 2017, in response to concerns over the impact of financial penalties and arrears of pay on social care providers. Penalties applicable to underpayments made prior to 26 July were
also waived.
A new Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS) has been introduced, to enable social care providers to identify what they owe to workers, and gives them a period of three months to pay any underpayments of the national minimum wage.
Social care employers who opt into the SCCS will have up to a year to identify what they owe to workers, supported with advice from HMRC. Provided arrears of pay are paid within three months, employers will not be subject to additional penalties for non-compliance with national minimum wage rates. Those who choose not to opt in will be subject to HMRC’s normal enforcement scheme.
Click here for further information and guidance.
Unfair redundancies during and following pregnancy
Maternity Action has published a new report on the impact of redundancies on pregnant women and new mothers. The report calls on the government to act on its commitment (made in January 2017) to review redundancy protection during and following pregnancy. Despite making this commitment, there has, so far, been no consultation or timescale for doing so.
According to the report, one in every 20 mothers is made redundant during pregnancy, maternity leave or on their return to work. Maternity Action is seeking for greater redundancy protections during this period, to apply for a period of six months after return to work. This would permit redundancy in only limited circumstances, such as closure of the business.
The report also calls for the extension of the time limit for bringing a claim to the employment tribunal to six months for pregnant women and new mothers.
A copy of the report is available from the Maternity Action website.
Gig economy: latest developments
In addition to the EAT decision in the Uber case reported earlier, there have been a couple of further noteworthy developments relating to the ongoing series of ‘gig economy’ claims.
CitySprint has reportedly dropped its appeal against the employment tribunal decision earlier this year that the claimant (Dewhurst) was a worker (see our summary). In response to the tribunal’s decision the company has, apparently, issued couriers with revised contracts to ‘simplify the language’ and clarify the rights and flexibilities available to its ‘self-employed’ couriers (see article). It seems highly likely that there will be a further legal challenge to determine whether CitySprint couriers are workers.
Deliveroo riders have failed in their application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) for compulsory trade union recognition. The CAC determined that the riders were self-employed contractors rather than ‘workers’ and, therefore, not entitled to apply for trade union recognition (see article). However, a group of riders are pursuing a separate claim in the employment tribunal in an attempt to establish their status as ‘workers’.
The content of this article is for general information only. For further information regarding employment law, please contact Liz Stevens or a member of Birketts’ Employment Law Team.
This article is from the November 2017 issue of Employment Law, our monthly newsletter on employment legislation and regulation. To download the latest issue, please visit the newsletter section of our website. Law covered as at November 2017.
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The content of this article is for general information only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. If you require any further information in relation to this article please contact the author in the first instance. Law covered as at November 2017.