HR Focus - January 2012
Welcome to this month’s edition of HR Focus
The New Year is in full swing now and we’re looking ahead to
what looks to be a busy 2012 for Employment Law.
It’s going to be a busy few months ahead, with
February seeing the annual increase in Tribunal rates and March
seeing the end of the consultation period on the controversial idea
of introducing court fees in the Tribunal.
The big changes look like they’ll be coming in
April, however, when a whole raft of Tribunal reforms are
introduced, including an expected increase in the qualifying period
for bringing and unfair dismissal claim to two years.
Finally, the reforms continue throughout the
year, with October seeing the introduction of auto-enrolment
pensions for larger employers.
Also, in March we are holding breakfast
seminars on "Employment Law update". The dates and times are as
follows:
To book your free place, please click
here and fill in our online registration form.
It’s going to be a busy year, so if you have
any queries, feedback on the newsletter or questions for our
Q&A section, please contact askemployment@weightmans.com
or ring Laura Kearsley, Editor on 0121 200 3480.
In this month’s edition:
Marital Status Discrimination
This month Mark Hatfield, a Partner in the
Manchester office, looks at Dunn v Institute of Cemetery and
Crematorium Management, which looks
to have extended the definition of discrimination by marital
status.
New Court Ruling on Annual Leave
Ian Hartley, Associate in Birmingham, looks at
the recent decision in Fraser v Southwest London St George’s Mental
Health Trust, which is a new court ruling on
annual leave for employees on long term sick leave.
New Court Ruling on Strike Ballots
Paul McFarlane, Partner in the London office,
takes a look at the recent court action
brought by London Underground against the ASLEF union and considers
what the effects on strike ballots in general.
Consultation, Consultation, Consultation
Emlyn Williams, Partner in our Liverpool
office, looks at the recent raft of
consultation processes started by the Government and considers what
it could mean for the future.
Q & A
In this issue Jane Cox, Partner in the
Birmingham office, answers a question on the
role of the Compliance Manager under the Bribery Act 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 in this update is owned by Weightmans.