HR Focus - April 2011

Welcome to this month’s edition of HR Focus.

As always, April is a busy month for legislative changes in employment law. The key changes that affect both employers and employees which come into effect during April 2011 include:

• The abolition of the default retirement age;
• An increase in maternity allowance and statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay from £124.88 to £128.73;
• Statutory sick pay increases from £79.15 to £81.60;
• Implementation of the General Public Sector Equality Duty contained in the Equality Act 2010;
• Implementation of the positive action in recruitment and promotion provisions of the Equality Act 2010;
• Changes to the taxation of post-termination payments;
• Limits on tax an NI reliefs for employer-supported childcare;
• Implementation of a cap on the number of non-EU migrants entering the UK under Tier 2 of the points-based system; and
• A temporary exemption from new domestic regulations for small businesses.

Please contact askemployment@weightmans.com or ring Laura Kearsley, Editor on 0121 200 3480 if you have any queries, feedback on the newsletter or questions for our Q&A section.

In this month’s edition:

Positive action in the workplace

Andrew Forrest, Associate in the Midlands team, examines the implementation of the positive action in recruitment and promotion provisions of the Equality Act 2010. The provisions allow employers to take positive action in recruitment or promotion exercises in favour of candidates from protected groups in a ‘tie-break’ situation.

Liberty Living plc v Reid EAT/0039/2010

Scott Withers, Associate in our Midlands team, looks at an important decision from the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Liberty Living plc v Reid EAT/0039/2010. This case indentifies a cornerstone of a fair conduct dismissal, namely that the employer has clear and consistent policies which are known to employees and managers alike.

The recent Agency Workers Regulations guidance published

Kevin McKenna, Associate in our Manchester office, looks in detail at the recently published draft guidance to agency workers which will come into effect in October 2011.

The Bribery Act 2010: Can you entertain?

Euros Jones, Associate in our Regulatory Services team in London, looks at the implications of the Act and whether it is still possible to entertain.

Q&A

And finally, in our Q&A section, Jessica Baden Daintree, Associate in the London employment team, looks at the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010.
 

This update does not attempt to provide a full analysis of those matters with which it deals and is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice and should not be treated as a substitute for legal advice.

Weightmans LLP accepts no responsibility for any loss that may arise from reliance on the information in this update. The copyright for this update is owned by Weightmans LLP 2011.