Articles in ‘Employment & Immigration’ Category

The UK Government this evening (Friday 20 March) announced an unprecedented package of measures designed to protect jobs through the coronavirus crisis – strongly encouraging employers to think long and hard before making redundancies for this reason.

Our May 2020 employment law update for health and social care providers includes an update on the Job Retention Scheme, details of potential cost savings where staff take holiday during furlough leave and the latest guidance on the SSP rebate scheme.

In this third and final part of our “Returning to work” series, we examine the pros and cons of working from home and issues employers need to consider if staff continue to work from home on a longer term basis.

While care must be taken when using sickness as a redundancy selection criterion, press reports suggesting that this is unlawful are overstated.

As lockdown eases, the government has announced that from 1 August shielding guidance in England will be paused (although this will continue in Wales until at least 16 August). Gemma Ospedale explains the key information employers need to consider.

Businesses face difficult decisions over the coming months as furlough comes to an end and the reality of the new order starts to become clear. For businesses this might involve redundancies or employees moving on as the job market reopens. Either way, there is likely to be movement within the jobs market. Employers therefore need to be aware of the increased risks that leavers pose in terms of confidential information and intellectual property whilst employees continue to work from home.

The Government has announced today that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), otherwise known as the furlough scheme, will be extended until the end of March 2021.

Wednesday’s Budget brings a further extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, better known as furlough, which is now set to run until the end of September 2021.

As working practices continue to adapt to the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, further clarification on reasonable requirements for PPE use is given in the recent Employment Tribunal claim of Deimantas Kubilius v Kent Foods Limited.

Our Employment & HR team brings its monthly review of new legislation, guidance and case law.

A year on from the start of the UK’s first lockdown – and the start of home working for millions of employees, our employment lawyers are considering the future of flexible working.

The issue of modern slavery has frequently been in the news, and is a compliance issue for many companies. Those compliance steps are now increasing and companies should be aware of what they need to do to ensure their actions are future proof.