1) Privacy surveillance
Phone tapping
ELA can advise on all aspects regarding privacy surveillance. We can help you to set up lawful surveillance of someone, additionally, we can advise you about what to do if you have been a victim of unlawful privacy surveillance, including phone intervention.
Email tapping
Privacy surveillance is of utmost importance today. More and more people are becoming victims of credit card fraud, phone tapping, email tapping and other privacy related incidents. We can advise you on your rights to privacy, whether it be at work or in the home.
2) Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act governs many basic rights of individuals. ELA can advise you of all these rights, and how they affect and can help you. From the right to life, the right to settle and have a family, the right to a private life and the right to work abroad, ELA can advise you on every right included in the Human Rights Act. Recent case decisions from Brussels change the details of your various rights and therefore affect your personal life – ELA can tell you exactly what you need to know about the fundamental freedoms upon which the European Union is built.
3) Employment
Termination
ELA specialise in all aspects of Employment law. If you are an employee, we can advise you on all employment termination matters, including your rights and your employer’s responsibilities. From unfair dismissal to redundancy ELA will advise you n how to approach your employer, as well as the practical steps you need to take in order to either make a claim against your employer, or complete the necessary paper work. Unfair dismissal is a topic of great discussion. Many people believe they are unfair dismissed. WE advise you on the latest employment law and how it affects you.
Similarly, if you are an employer, exploring the ever changing employment law latest can be unproductive. ELA have experts in the field of employment termination to help you cross the minefield of legislation and government red tape. We can advise you with all termination issues, such as when to terminate someone’s employment, where to terminate it and how, whether you are a five or five hundred man-band. We can offer advice on how to write a letter giving details of someone’s termination, and how to defend yourself if you ever have an employee claiming against you. Redundancy, dismissal or voluntary dismissal all require paperwork to be completed in order to comply with the current legislation. ELA an advise you on which forms to complete and how to approach your employee.
If you need to terminate an employment contract because of bad attitude, late arrival, or because the employee is no longer suitable, we can help you do it in the right way, and avoid legal claims made against you for terminating their employment.
Dismissal
ELA advises on all areas of dismissal –whether it be fair or unfair, on behalf of the employer or employee. Both individuals need help when there has been a dismissal misunderstanding. ELA can advise employers on how to approach dismissal in the correct way and how to avoid making the dismissal unfair. Ask us before you dismiss an employee and we’ll tell you the right way to do it – or, come to us after you have dismissed an employee and we will help to ensure that it is compliant with the law. Unfair dismissal is the greatest worry of many employers. ELA advises on how to avoid dismissing someone unfairly as well as your right and responsibilities when making a dismissal.
In today's commercial environment running a business is hard enough without have to deal with the onslaught of employment legislation and government red tape. Moreover, whilst employers find it increasingly difficult to understand and meet their obligations, employees are increasing aware of their rights.
ELA's unique range of personnel services has been designed to redress the balance by providing employers with access to a wealth of expertise, from personnel documentation to tribunal representation, as well as a 24-hour telephone advice service.
If you are an employee, ELA can advise you of your rights throughout the dismissal process. If you have been unfairly dismissed, you could claim damages from your employer. EAL will advise you on how to go about claiming for unfair dismissal and ensure you receive the maximum amount possible for your claim. We can represent you at a tribunal, give 24- hour telephone advice and help you complete the correct documentation.
Hiring employees
ELA can advise you on how to best hire employees. Hiring your first employee is a big step so you need to make sure you go about it the right way. Employing staff has many benefits, however, there is a multitude of employment legislation that you must comply with if you hire an employee. ELA can help you work your way through the employment laws and specifically which apply to you. ELA can help you select staff and you can ask us about how to compose an interview. We can make the potential employee want to work for you – this is just as important as you wanting them! Not only is there a mass of employment legislation, such as the Working Time regulations, but there is also Health and Safety legislation that you will need to comply with. More importantly, you have a common law duty to all your staff to ensure you hire competent employees that won’t make negligent mistakes and put at risk the other employees.
Health and safety at work
Health and Safety at work is a vast area of law which is sometimes confusing and complicated. ELA can advise you on which laws and regulations apply to you and we can also advise you on how best to implement the laws in the most efficient way. ELA can therefore save you time and potential future employment tribunal claims by advising you about the relevant health and safety laws.
Employers have a common law duty to their employees, as well as a duty imposed by statue, and additionally, a duty under the doctrine of vicarious liability. A specific common law duty is that you must ensure that you select competent staff, ensure the safety of plant and other equipment and lastly that you ensure a safe system of work. This includes taking all measures that are reasonable in order to ensure the health and safety of your staff. ELA can advise on how best to implement a safe system of work, which might include supervisory checks from time to time, as well as providing the correct personal protective equipment for your employees to use. This might include helmets, eye wear, or protective boots.
ELA can also help you if you are an employer. Personal injuries at work are mostly due to negligence, or you being able to show that the employer failed to exercise reasonable care while you worked. We can advise you on your employment claim from start to finish. We can help with administration and also how best to approach your employer. You are most likely protected by one or many laws and most
Employee assessment
ELA can advise you on all aspects on employee appraisal from start (before you hire the employee) to finish (should there be a finish!). Employee assessment, or employee appraisal as it is most commonly known, can be an essential part of monitoring an employee’s work and their efficiency, as well as develop new goals and ensure that specific tasks are completed in a timely manner.
Appraisals regularly record an assessment of an employee's performance, potential and development needs. The appraisal is an opportunity to take an overall view of work content, loads and volume, to look back on what has been achieved during the reporting period and agree objectives for the next.
The main objectives of an appraisal system are usually to review employees' performance and potential. There may also be a link with a reward review. Appraisals can benefit both employers and employees by improving job performance, by making it easier to identify strengths and weaknesses and by determining suitability for development.
ELA can help you design a scheme. Questions we help you with include: who should be assessed? Who does the appraising? how often should appraisals take place? and should employees should see their appraisal reports?
Employers are not required by law to introduce appraisal schemes. There are however some aspects of employment legislation that affect employee appraisal which ELA can advise on so that you comply with all relevant law.
ELA advise on the objectives of the appraisal scheme which should be determined before the system is designed in detail. The objectives will to a large extent dictate the methods and performance criteria for appraisal so they should be discussed with employees, managers and trade unions to obtain their views and commitment. The main objectives of an appraisal system are usually to review performance, potential and identify training and career planning needs. In addition the employee assessment system may be used to determine whether employees should receive an element of financial reward for their performance.
Performance reviews - give managers and employees opportunities to discuss how employees are progressing and to see what sort of improvements can be made or help given to build on their strengths and enable them to perform more effectively.
Review of potential and development needs - predicts the level and type of work that employees will be capable of doing in the future and how they can be best developed for the sake of their own career and to maximise their contribution to the organisation.
Reward reviews - determine the 'rewards' that employees will get for their past work. The reward review is usually a separate process from the appraisal system but the review is often assisted by information provided by the performance appraisal.
By working with lawyers from the ELA team, appraisals can help to improve employees' job performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses and determining how their strengths can be best utilised within the organisation and weaknesses overcome. We can help to reveal problems which may be restricting employees' progress and causing inefficient work practices.
Some employers may talk to their employees regularly about their problems and performance at work and may not therefore see the need for a formal appraisal system. Regular dialogue between managers and their staff about work performance should, of course, be encouraged. However, in the absence of a formal appraisal scheme, much will depend on the attitude of individual managers. Some will give regular feedback on their employees' performance and potential while others will neglect this responsibility. An appraisal system can develop a greater degree of consistency by ensuring that managers and employees meet formally and regularly to discuss performance and potential. Experience shows this can encourage better performance from employees.
ELA can also advise on human resource planning to assist succession planning and to determine the suitability of employees for promotion, for particular types of employment and training. In addition they can improve communications by giving employees an opportunity to talk about their ideas and expectations and to be told how they are progressing. This process can also improve the quality of working life by increasing mutual understanding between managers and employees.
Smaller companies can certainly benefit from having appropriate appraisal systems. Indeed, the task of appraising employees is usually easier because managers are more likely to know each employee well. ELA work with you to ensure that the appraisal system we design for you meets you specific business needs. It is important that the appraisal system is designed to meet the particular needs of the smaller company and is not over elaborate. An appraisal system does not need to generate a lot of paper to be effective; on the contrary the most effective systems are often the simplest.
A badly designed appraisal system operated by untrained and poorly motivated managers, and hastily introduced, will damage relationships and provide no benefits. ELA can help you to make the decision about introducing an appraisal scheme.
ELA advise that employee assessment should be a continuous process and should not be limited to a formal review once a year. The frequency of formal appraisals will depend on the nature of the organisation and on the objectives of the system. For example, in a high technology organisation objectives may be changing quickly so that formal appraisals may need to be carried out more than once a year. In an environment which is less subject to change, annual appraisals may be sufficient. Most employees receive a formal appraisal annually, although more frequent appraisals are often needed for new employees, for longer serving staff who have moved to new posts or for those who are below acceptable performance standards.
Labour law
ELA can advise on all aspects of labour law, otherwise known as employment law. We have specialist lawyers in this area to assist you every step of the way whether you are an employer or employee. Each European country operates a distinct system of labour legislation and judicial enforcement. This is often closely linked to the process of collective bargaining and social partner consultation arrangements.
By continental standards, the UK operates a highly liberal labour market with the minimum of legislative intervention and administrative 'red tape'. Employment rights have taken shape around the common law of contract and onto this central pillar have been bolted a number of statutory constraints in such spheres as working time, maternity, union rights and minimum pay. The UK does not have a written constitution and its court system has grown in a rather piecemeal way. However, specialist employment tribunals are empowered to hear almost all individual disputes and they are an integrated element in the civil court structure. ELA can advise every step of the way in any employment tribunal procedure. Whether you need help completing the required forms, help finding them, or advice on how to approach a former employer, we can help.
There are numerous pieces of legislation that guide employment law. They range from The Management of Health and Safety at Work Act to more recent Noise Regulations within the field of health and safety to, The Working Time Regulations and the Prevention of Unfair Treatment regulations. Employment law strives to ensure a fair work environment for both employers and employees. ELA strives to help you comply with the law in order to prevent timely and costly disputes.
Employing people abroad
ELA can help you concerning all area of working abroad whether you are an employer or employee. It is often a useful business tool to be able to send an employee abroad for a certain period of time. It might help inter-national relations or might be purely for financial reasons. Whatever the reasons, EAL can advise you on all the legal and practical issues regarding sending an employee abroad. Additionally, ELA advises employees who are about to be sent abroad or who have been sent abroad and who require further information.
The most important aspect regarding this area is to ensure that the employment contact is clear between all parties involved and that it sets out the rights and responsibilities of each party clearly and in plain English.
If a new employee will normally work in the UK but will be required to work for you abroad for more than a month, the written statement you give them must include details of:
· the period they will be employed abroad
· the currency in which they will be paid
· any additional pay or benefits provided because of employment abroad
· terms relating to their return to the UK
There is a special case for employees who will leave to work abroad for more than a month within two months of starting work. You should give any such employees their written statements before they leave. ELA can advise you of the best time to do this and the legal implications of doing so.
Human Resource Management (HRM)
Human Resources stretches from hiring graduates, to senior staff, liaising with current and former staff about their thoughts and attitudes towards their employment and making decisions about human resource terminations – firing people! ELA can advise on all aspects of human resource management – perhaps if your business is small, you require advice, but not the help of an official job vacancy to fill purely for dealing with aspects of human resource management. ELA can help. We can advise you whether you are an employer, employee or middle manager – we can advise on how to deal with your employer / employees.
If you are an employee, perhaps you need to ask your employer about a pay rise you believe you deserve or perhaps you’d like to change your working hours to fit in more with your personal life. Approaching these sorts of situations is a professional, objective way is essential in order to maintain the work relationship essential for any professional organisation.
For employers, human resource management will require careful thinking in order to comply with legal requirements. When you take on new staff, a bundle of legislation you may not even be aware of governs how you treat your staff. The new employee will require a contract. ELA can advise on the best approach to employment contracts and can even help you draft your own contract for your new employees. ELA can help you in assessing new candidates for the position you need to fill, assess current employees to maintain they are working to your requirements and how to approach employees when there are unsatisfying results. If you need to terminate an employee’s contract, you must do so in the correct manner legally in order to avoid an employment tribunal procedure being brought against you.
ELA can help you to understand the purpose of HRM, how it developed, and the range of tasks covered by human resource specialists. We advise on: The history of people management, significant developments that led to modern human resource management (HRM), The main differences between 'traditional' personnel management and HRM, the key roles played by human resource specialists. Furthermore, we then help you implement the developments into your business, whatever field you are in.
Human resource management has its basis in rational thinking. In practice, strategists have accepted that there must be a place for the unexpected. Strategy and planning provide a framework for human resource requirements over a defined period but traditional personnel managers have been accused of having difficulties in understanding and implementing strategy. Human resource strategies tend to focus on numbers and also attitudes, behaviour and commitment in line with harder 'matching' models of HRM, but their implementation is problematic.
People managers are involved in dealing with the consequences of re-organization, including closure and redundancies. In a more positive way, they are concerned with growth and strategic alliances. Some of the problems they face include relocation, changing roles and retraining for new skills. More difficult issues come from attempts at cultural change or behavioural transformations. These are notoriously expensive and unsuccessful but are sometimes inevitable and can hold the key to future success. Human resource management is therefore a key issue for your business. You might want to handle it yourself – especially if you have a small business, and we can help you with your approach. If you have a larger organisation, ELA can also advise on the best approaches to take, and also, who to hire as your main human resource manager!
The underlying assumption is that firms can make deliberate decisions about their markets, the products or services they provide, prices, quality standards and the deployment of human and other resources. Strategic thinking is based on rational decision-making, taking into account the competitive and financial pressures on an organization and the resources available to it, including its people. It imposes orderly, logical thinking on a messy real world, modelling the present situation and predicting the consequences of specific actions.
Personnel management was essentially reactive, whereas human resource management - exemplified by HR strategy - is proactive and takes a longer perspective. It requires careful thought and planning and a through knowledge of the legal principles guiding the ever changing law in the area. ELA can advise on all such matters regarding your personal human resource needs.
Employment contracts
Employment contracts are key to any position of employment. ELA can advise you on all aspects of an employment contract, from understanding what it means, to interpretation, and your rights as either an employer or employee. Employment contracts set out the terms and conditions of employment and are the first place to look if you have a misunderstanding with your employer.
As well as helping you to decipher your contact, ELA can advise you how to deal with your employer or employee throughout the matter. This might require a tactical approach – you might want to keep employing the employee, or keep working for your employer, in which case, you probably don’t want to cause bad feelings. Maintaining a professional approach is always advised. ELA can provide further recommendations too.
The terms of contract of employment may be oral, written, implied or a mixture of all three. They can be found in a variety of places:
· the original job adverts
· letters
· agreements
· staff rules and handbook
An oral contract is as binding as a written one, though its terms may be more difficult to prove.
Where you want to include provisions specific to the individual, these can be stated either orally or in writing. However, setting them down in writing may prevent disagreements arising later.
If a written contract is issued, ELA advises to include a term stating that it replaces all previous discussions/correspondence in relation to terms of employment provided the employee accepts this.
If an employee works for you for a month or longer, you must give them a written statement of specified terms and conditions within two months of starting their employment with you - earlier if, within this period, you employ them overseas for more than a month. The written statement is not a contract in itself, but in the case of a dispute it can be used as evidence of an employee's terms and conditions.
TUPE – transfer of undertakings
TUPE – formerly known as a transfer of undertakings, is the transfer of a business from one person’s hands to another. If you are an employee of the former business owner, you may be concerned that your rights will not be protected. Rest assured, ELA are here to help – we can advise you of your rights whether you are an employee, former employer or prospective employer. The legal principles involved are rather complex, however, on the outset, attempt to protect all parties in the most fair way. If a TUPE is handled incorrectly, it might have undesirable consequences for you as an employee, however, this should not be the case – you are entitled to remain in your employment. ELA advise you of all your rights during this transitional process.
If the business you work for changes from one owner to another, you need to know how it will affect you. Find out what it means for you if there's a transfer of the business to a new employer, and your employer's responsibilities to consult you.
If the business you work for changes hands, your terms and conditions are protected. Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (known as 'TUPE'). the existing terms and conditions of your contract of employment will transfer automatically to your new employer. This means that you will normally carry on working for the new employer as before.
If the new employer refuses to meet the terms of your contract, this will amount to a breach of contract. ELA can advise on all matters regarding a breach of contract. You might want to start a claim for unfair dismissal in order to claim damages for lost income. However, you might prefer you job back, in which case, you need to approach your employer in a strategic manner. ELA can help you by guiding you on the most professional approach, and so that you deal with every issue regarding your employment.
Other employment rights as well as your terms and conditions are protected. These include any holiday you’ve built up and any outstanding claims you’ve made against the original employer (e.g. under discrimination laws).
You can refuse to work for the new employer. You must let your current or prospective employer know that you object to the transfer. You’ll be regarded as having resigned and will have no right to claim unfair dismissal or to a redundancy payment. ELA can advise on all issues regarding a transfer of undertaking.
Employer’s responsibilities
ELA can help both employers and employees find out about the employer’s responsibilities. Of course employees also have responsibilities! ELA can advise on all matters of an employer’s responsibilities and help you to understand the laws that guide an employer within a work environment. Whether you are an employer-to-be or an experienced hand with employment matters, there is constantly new law coming into place which will affect how you treat your employees.
Under the law employers are responsible for health and safety management. This is just ne area in which employer’s have a responsibility and ELA can advise. It is an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees, and other people who might be affected by their business. An employer must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this.
This means making sure that employees and others are protected from anything that may cause harm, effectively controlling any risks to injury or health that could arise in the workplace. ELA can help an employer implement systems of work to ensure that all employees are safe. This might mean having designated supervision for new employees, updated training or feedback sessions. There are many ways of implementing a safe system of work and ELA can advise on the best ways to do this, while maximizing business efficiency.
Your employer has duties under health and safety law to assess risks in the workplace. Risk assessments should be carried out that address all risks that might cause harm in your workplace. Risk assessments can be carried out by various people. ELA can help you to decide who should carry out a risk assessment, whether they are suitable qualified to do so, and the information they should record.
An employer must give you information about the risks in the workplace and how an employee is protected. An employer must instruct and train an employee on how to deal with the risks. ELA can advise on training methods and suitable times and frequencies at which to train. The most beneficial training techniques also change frequently. Additionally, simple things such as ensuring all employees are trained in basic first aid can help to alleviate potential accidents.
An employer must consult their employees on health and safety issues, either directly or through a safety representative that is either elected by the workforce or appointed by a trade union.
If you have specific queries on health and safety issues in your workplace, you can ask ELA. Your safety representative or trade union representative may also be able to help, where they exist.
If you think your employer is exposing you to risks or is not carrying out their legal duty in regards to health and safety, and you have pointed this out to them without getting a satisfactory response, you can contact us. We treat all contacts in strictest confidence.
Employers have certain responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. ELA can advise on providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards and ensuring you comply with standards, rules and regulations issued under the OSHA Act. ELA can help an employer to examine workplace conditions to make sure they conform to applicable OSHA standards. We can advise on making sure employees have and use safe tools and equipment and properly maintain this equipment, using colour codes, posters, labels or signs to warn employees of potential hazards. ELA advise on how to establish or update operating procedures and communicate them so that employees follow safety and health requirements. ELA can help you in providing medical examinations and training when required by OSHA standards.
ELA can also advise on administration responsibilities such as keeping records of work-related injuries and illnesses. You might need a system by which to record such information, a designated person to make the recordings, or help on how to store the information in line with other Regulations. Additionally, employees are allowed access to their employee medical records and exposure records to employees or their authorized representatives.
Employers have a responsibility not discriminate against employees who exercise their rights under the Act.
One more example is responsibilities if there is to be a redundancy. The formal procedure must be followed to ensure that the employee is treated fairly and with respect. ELA can advise on all issues regarding an employer’s responsibilities – of any sort.
Company car
There are advantages and disadvantages in having a company car. If you require a car for work purposes, it is more logical to have one provided for you. This might be detailed in your employment contract. If not, it should be. ELA can advise on how to amend contracts of employment as well as advise on any sort of employment policy issues, including company cars. There are responsibilities for employee in having a company car, and of course, there is added responsibility for the employer.
ELA can advise with all issues regarding company cars. Tax benefits and tax rebates are often frequently asked questions in this area. ELA can advise on all the benefits you receive if you own a company car, and also how best to claim them.
Questions regarding employee contributions are also popular. Perhaps you use the car for both work and personal activities. The employee will then have to make personal contributions of course to both the maintenance of the car as well as petrol! Where the employee is required, as a condition of the car being made available, to pay for the private use of a car the value of the benefit is reduced accordingly (on a pound for pound basis). Capital contributions of up to £5,000 made by employees towards the cost of the car and/or accessories, when the car is first made available, will continue to reduce its price for tax purposes. ELA can advise you of the specific payments both employer and employee will be bound to pay when taking on a company car. These payments change depending on the type of car, the proportion of use for personal and work use and the age of the car, as well as other matters. Careful consideration is required when calculating the correct amounts to claim back and here, EL:A can help.
By contrast it is "all or nothing" for the fuel scale charge, which remains at the full value unless the employee pays for all private fuel!
HM Revenue & Customs has published baseline rates which will be accepted either for employers re-imbursing employees for the cost of fuel for business mileage or for employees re-imbursing employers for the cost of fuel for private mileage. Alternative rates may be negotiated, for example when it is necessary for the performance of his or her duties that an employee uses a four-wheel drive vehicle, a higher rate per mile might be agreed due to the typically higher fuel consumption of such vehicles.
Tax free benefits include car parking!
Similarly, if you do not have a company car, but instead, use your own car for work purposes, you can also claim money back in the form of a tax rebate and also from your employer for associated 4xpenses such as petrol. ELA can advise you on what specifically you can claim back, and how.
Email policy
ELA advises on all aspects of email and Internet policies at work. Whether you are an employer and want to put a new policy in place to control Internet and email usage, or already have a current policy in place that needs changing or enforcing, ELA can help.
If your business uses computers and does not have an Internet and email policy you are in a vulnerable position. ELA can explain exactly why you need a policy, how to create a policy document specifically for your company, how to monitor it once it is in place and what to do about breaches. Your business will then be far better protected.
Internet and email policies are important because you do not want communications resources wasted or productivity to suffer as employees surf the Internet planning their next holiday! It is also vital to protect your business from potentially damaging material delivered via the Internet or email. If you do not have policies how can employees know if they are abusing them or not? Furthermore, unless you explicitly state what is not acceptable, you could risk an unfair dismissal claim if you dismiss staff who access unsuitable material. It is often a question of striking the right balance between allowing staff access to the Internet outside working hours and controlling and policing you create. But you are in control and access to the Internet should be seen as a privilege and not a right.
Trivial abuses of the system may include transferring large file attachments, or wasting work time Internet surfing, personal email or online chat. More serious risks include downloading files that contain viruses, obtaining copyrighted material such as music or films, transmitting valuable or sensitive business information with encryption, distributing or relaying offensive or abusive material via email or generating junk email or spam, via mass mailings. Accepting files from people in online chat rooms which could bypass firewalls or email filters is another serious abuse. Serious misconduct may lead to disciplinary or even legal proceeding eg accessing or downloading pornography or other offensive material, libelling or defaming colleagues, or external business contacts, via email and using the Internet to commit fraud or other illegal acts. ELA can advise you on how to tackle employees who you might be abusing the system. Tactical consideration is required – you do not want to upset your employee, however, you must also resolve the issue at hand and prevent similar issues happening in the future.
If you have Internet and email usage policies you can avoid, or at least drastically reduce these risks. Staff will then know exactly what they can or cannot do, and the consequences of breaching the rules.
ELA can advise you on how to create an Internet usage policy for your business. We advise on whether you should allow staff access to the Internet in their own time. This is often seen as a goodwill gesture. If you are to allow access you need an Internet acceptable use policy (IAUP).
The policy should set out the terms and conditions for staff accessing the Internet at work. It should contain various provisions, all of which ELA can explain and help you with.
Staff need guidance on what is acceptable and what is not. A clear policy will help staff use email effectively and productively. The policy should outline:
ELA can help you to monitor Internet and email usage. Various laws cover this area, including the Data Protection Act. You must inform employees if you intend to monitor their Web and email use. There are legal restrictions and it is a complex areas covered by the Data Protection Act, the Human Rights Act and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. ELA can advise you on how to comply with these Acts and Regulations and how best to implement and track your own policy.
In general you can monitor email and Internet traffic, installing software which logs websites visited and emails send and received together with addresses (but not their contents).
You can inspect the content of individual emails without a worker’s consent for a number of specific business purposes. These include recording transactions or other important business communications, making sure employees are complying with the law and your internal policies, preventing abuse of your telecoms systems and checking emails when staff are on leave.
If you want to monitor communications for other purposes, or are not sure whether you have the right to read an email, you must get permission to do so – from both the sender and recipient. The law in this area can be complex, so tread very carefully.
ELA can help you to deal with Internet and email policy breaches. How you deal with employees who break your policy rules can affect working relationships for a long time. You should be flexible, depending on the scale of the offence. Be clear about the sort of penalties or sanctions you wish to impose.
Your Internet and Email usage policies could include warnings that facilities may be withdrawn at any time due to suspected misuse. Warnings can also state that users might be personally liable to prosecution and open to claims for damages if their actions are found to be in breach of the law.
Discrimination (race / sex / beliefs)
ELA can help with all matters concerning discrimination – from racial discrimination, sexual harassment or religious discrimination. We can advise on complaints from both employers and employees.
If you are an employer, you might have been accused of discriminating against someone in which case we can advise you on how to handle the accusation in a professional manner. If you have employees who are involved in a discrimination dispute, we can also help you become the mediator and attempt to solve the issue without proceeding to a tribunal.
Problems with employees may arise from time to time in even the best-run businesses. Occasionally you may need to take disciplinary action against employees or deal with their grievances once you have exhausted ways of preventing problems arising in the first place. Once we have advised you on how to deal with the immediate problem, you might have to then deal with discipline procedures. This can be a potentially tricky task, however, ELA can help you every step f the way from the legal and administrative side, to how you should communicate with the employees involved as not to cause further upset.
If problems do arise, deal with them rather than let them fester into resignations and/or tribunal claims. Disciplinary and grievance procedures should be an aid to good management.
New legislation requires all employers to set out their dismissal, disciplinary and grievance rules in writing for their employees. ELA can help you apply the law in a positive way so that it helps your business. Failure to do this or to follow the new procedures when dismissing an employee will result in extra compensation for the employee and the dismissal being held as automatically unfair.
Discrimination means treating some people differently from others. It isn't always unlawful - after all, people are paid different wages depending on their status and skills. However, there are certain reasons for which your employer can't discriminate against you by law.
Discrimination happens when an employer treats one employee less favourably than others. It could mean a female employee being paid less than a male colleague for doing the same job, or minority ethnic employee being refused the training opportunities offered to white colleagues. EAL can help both parties –whether you are an employee or employer – we can advise you on how to resolve the issue both efficiently and fairly.
There are specific laws against some types of discrimination (called 'unlawful discrimination'). If your employer treats you less favourably for an unlawful reason, you may be able to take action. If your employer treats you unfairly for any other reason, this is not unlawful discrimination There are laws against discrimination because of gender, marital status, gender reassignment, pregnancy, sexual orientation, disability, race, colour, ethnic background, nationality, religion or belief and age (from October 1st 2006)
ELA can advise you about the different types of discrimination –which one has affected you and the avenues to take in order to resolve the matter quickly. Direct discrimination and indirect discrimination form the basis of the different types of discrimination. Indirect discrimination is the most frequent and more difficult to prove, however, ELA can help you make a claim or proe3tc yourself against a claim.
Harassment means offensive or intimidating behaviour - sexist language or racial abuse, for example - which aims to humiliate, undermine or injure its target.
Victimisation means treating somebody less favourably than others because they tried to make a discrimination complaint
Sexual harassment
ELA can advise on all matters regarding sexual harassment whether you are the victim or the accused perpetrator. We cam advise you on how best to defend yourself in a professional manner, and, or how to resolve the matters efficiently and fairly.
If you are an employer, it is essential that you understand the various laws governing sexual discrimination – it happens more frequently in the workplace that you might expect. ELA can help you to decipher Acts and regulations so that you comply with the legal requirements and prevent potential disputes between either you and your employee, or between two or more of your employees.
It’s unlawful for an employer to treat an employee differently from others because of sex, marital status, or if you’ve had, are having or are going to have gender reassignment. Find out about your rights and what to do if you feel you're being discriminated against.
Equal opportunities laws aim to create a ‘level playing field’ so that people are employed, paid, trained and promoted only because of their skills, abilities and how they do their job.
Under the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act it’s unlawful for an employer to discriminate against you because of your sex or because you are married. It’s also unlawful to discriminate against you because you’ve had, are having or intend to have, gender reassignment. This means someone, supervised by a doctor, who changes their gender.
The discrimination can be ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’, deliberate or accidental. If someone is disadvantaged at work because of their sex, marital status or gender, it is unlawful, and the employer should stop the discrimination.
Sex discrimination laws cover almost all workers (men and women) and all types of organisations in the UK.
The 1970 Equal Pay Act makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate between men and women in terms of their pay and conditions where they are doing the same or similar work; work rated as equivalent in a job evaluation study by the employer; or work of equal value. EAL can advise you on matters relating to pay.
Sex discrimination at work is unlawful in all parts of employment. The law covers recruitment, terms and conditions, pay and benefits, status, training, promotion and transfer opportunities, right through to redundancy and dismissal.
However, in some cases, a job can be offered to someone of a particular sex, because of what is called a ‘genuine occupational qualification’. Examples could include some jobs in single-sex schools, jobs in some welfare services and acting jobs that need a man or a woman
Different types of discrimination
There are four types of discriminations:
Direct discrimination - treating you differently because of your sex, because you are married or because of your gender reassignment (e.g. paying men more than women for doing the same job, promoting someone because they are single instead of an equally qualified person, or sacking a woman because she says she is pregnant or might start a family.
Indirect discrimination - putting you at a disadvantage because of certain working practices or rules (e.g. setting a minimum height, which might discriminate against most women or an employer’s refusal to recruit part-time workers without good reason)
Harassment - behaving in an offensive manner, or encouraging or allowing other people to do so (for example, making sexual remarks or gestures, allowing displays or distribution of sexually explicit material, or giving someone a potentially offensive nickname because of their gender)
Victimisation - treating you unfairly for making a complaint about discrimination (for example, preventing you from going on training courses, taking unfair disciplinary action against you, or excluding you from company social events)
Employers who don’t stop sex and gender discrimination by their employees may themselves be discriminating unlawfully.
Resignation
Resignation is a delicate subject. ELA can help yu if you are an employee looking for advice about how to resign, writing your resignation letter, what to say to your employer (if necessary), how to handle other colleagues and the time after you hand in your resignation to when you leave. The latter especially can be a time full of anxiety and high emotions. ELA can give you the best advice about how to stay clam and act in a professional manner.
When an employee wants to resign, an employer can try to persuade them to change their mind but can’t refuse to accept their resignation.
If they later withdraw their resignation, generally you don’t have to agree to them continuing to work for you. You should act carefully though if the employee has handed in their notice in controversial circumstances, e.g. after an argument. ELA advises on how best to approach these situations and get the best from your employer / employee in a difficult time.
Once you have accepted an employee's resignation, there are several actions you need to take to make their departure as smooth as possible. ELA can advise on how to get written confirmation of the resignation, and the date of resignation. This will help you avoid disputes over the exact date of the resignation and the start of any notice period.
ELA can help you to decide whether you wish the employee to work out their full notice period. You may find it more appropriate to pay the employee in lieu of all or part of the notice period if your contract provides for it or the employee agrees. But if you do so, be sure that you have another employee who is able to immediately take on the job.
ELA can advise on when and how to confirm the employee's notice period, usually part of their contract of employment. If it is not, statutory notice will apply.
We can help you to take steps to make an announcement to other staff concerning their departure, if appropriate. You might like to organise a handover period. This allows for a smooth handover of key tasks and responsibilities. You could ask your employee in confidence to discuss why they are leaving and see whether they have unresolved grievances or suggestions for improvements. However, exit interviews can be difficult for employer and employee alike and should be handled with considerable care and a record kept of the discussion. ELA can advise you on hoe best to approach exit interviews whether you are an employer or employee. Either way, you’ll want to be prepared and professional.
You might need to retrieve security passes and all other company property, e.g. tools, uniforms, computers and company cars. ELA can advise on organising final payments including all money owing, e.g. pay in lieu of working a notice period, money for unused holidays, overtime and bonus payments.
ELA can make sure you part on good terms. The person leaving may become a client or may be able to refer business to you. Equally, a disgruntled ex-employee can damage your business verbally if they leave on poor terms.
Make a point of saying goodbye on the actual day the person leaves and thank them again for all their hard work.
An employee may be entitled to resign if you breach a fundamental term of their employment contract. This is known as constructive dismissal. ELA can advise on all matters regarding constructive dismissal whether you are an employer or employee.
Breaches of contract that may give rise to unfair constructive dismissal claims might include anything which makes it impossible or intolerable for the employee to continue doing the job.
Examples include unilaterally cutting - or trying to cut - an employee's wages or salary or other contractual benefits, transferring an employee to a different job or location in the absence of any stated or implied contractual right to do so, failing to provide a safe place of work, breach of the obligation of mutual trust and confidence implied in every employment contract
Retrieving medical information about employees
ELA can advise on all areas of confidential information within any area of law. Retrieving medical information is one area of employee confidentiality. The Data Protection Act 1998 governs this area of the law – employers may access an employees medical information only in certain circumstances. The information must then be stored according to the law. ELA can help you to understand the laws which apply to your business in order to avoid small claims against you. Medical information retrieval is a complicated area of law – ELA can advise you on how best to access the information you require, what to do once you have fund out certain information and also how to store the information so that you comply with The Data Protection Act 1998.
Employing under 18s
ELA can advise you on all aspects regarding hiring 16 and 17 year olds for employment. This area of law is guided by additional Regulations and laws in order to protect young adults. ELA can advise you on the administrative process, how hiring younger staff differs from hiring more experienced staff, how to approach younger staff, how to train younger staff and how to comply with the legislation to avoid claims against you.
If workers are over the minimum school-leaving age but under 18, they must not work for more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. If you employ anybody in this age group you must also give them a break of 30 minutes every four-and-a-half hours worked, a rest period of 12 hours between each working day and at least two days off a week. There are other laws which govern working time for under 18s. ELA can advise you on these laws and how they apply to your business.
All 16 and 17-year-olds who are above compulsory school leaving age are entitled to a National Minimum Wage. Apprentices under 19 are exempt from the National Minimum Wage. However, all employed apprentices funded by the Learning and Skills Council in England must receive a minimum income of £80 per week.
ELA can advise an employer all their legal duties when hiring younger staff. Often, the employer has more legal requirements when hiring younger staff because they need protection. ELA can advise you of these laws and how they can benefit your business. For example, you must carry out, or review, a risk assessment, paying attention to the health and safety implications of employing young people. Consider their immaturity as well as their inexperience when you do this.
Under-18s may be employed in certain dangerous environments only if it is necessary for their training, and they are supervised and the risks are minimised. ELA advises of all the permitted and prohibited working environments for younger people.
If you take on an employee aged 16 or 17 who has not achieved a certain standard in their education, they may be entitled to paid time off for study or training. Your business may be entitled to financial help toward the cost of this. You can take on an employee up to the age of 24 under the apprenticeship programme or one of your employees can join the programme.
Young employees who believe they have suffered a detriment because of requesting time off for training or have been refused it may complain to an employment tribunal.
If you need to make a young worker redundant, workers under 18 are not entitled to statutory redundancy pay. For older workers, any time spent working for you before the worker turned 18 is not counted when calculating statutory redundancy pay. In addition to redundancy, ELA can help you with all your dismissal enquiries regarding the employment of younger staff.
Working time regulations
The Working Time Regulations have been updated numerous times since 1998. ELA can advise you of all the changes, as well as the law on a more general note, as it currently stands. ELA also advises on how the laws apply to you and how you can comply with the Working Time Regulations.
It is important that employees are productive for their employers, however, an employer should not overwork and employee. ELA can advise employees about their rights and how to make a complaint as well as how to approach your employer.
Employers might require help from ELA in extracting the information relevant to them and information on how to comply by taking simple steps. Working time regulations are in place to protect workers from being over-worked.
ELA can also advise on what the Working Time Regulations mean for self employed people.
A worker is someone who has a contract of employment, is paid a regular salary or wage and works for an organisation, business or individual. Trainees are also workers. The maximum amount of time a worker can work per week is 48 hours. Work includes travelling as part of the job, working lunches and job-related training. Working time does not include travelling between home and work, lunch breaks, evening classes or day-release courses. ELA can advise on other inclusions and exclusions which might otherwise mean that your employees are working too much, and you are therefore not complying.
ELA can advise on “Opt-out” schemes. A worker may agree to work more than 48 hours a week. He does this by signing an opt-out agreement which can be cancelled at any time. The agreement must state how much notice is needed to cancel the agreement, which can be up to three months but a minimum of seven days.
ELA advises on how to calculate the ‘average working time’. The number of hours worked each week should be averaged out over 17 weeks or however long a worker has been working for their employer if this is less than 17 weeks. This period of time is called the ‘reference period’. The hours per week is simply averaged out over this time.
ELA can help if you have a second job. If a worker is known to have a second job, an employer should agree an opt-out with the worker if the total time worked is in excess of 48 hours a week.
More generally, employers may wish to make an enquiry of their workforce about any additional employment. However, if a worker does not tell an employer about other employment and the employer has no reason to suspect that the worker has another job, it is extremely unlikely that the employer would be found not to have complied.
There are special regulations for workers who work at night. The rules are different here to reflect the fact that night work is generally more strenuous that work during the day. ELA can advise an employer who employs people who work at night and how this will affect thjeir working time.
Where a night worker’s work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, there is an absolute limit of eight hours on the worker’s working time each day – this is not an average.
Work will involve a special hazard if it is identified by agreement between an employer and workers in a collective agreement or workforce agreement; or as posing a significant risk by a risk assessment which an employer has conducted under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992.
ELA can help you if you are an employee looking for clarification, or to know and understand your rights, or if you have a complaint you need redressing. If you are a worker and you feel you are not receiving your entitlements, we can suggest some simple steps so that you can change yur work system and be compensated where appropriate.
Holiday pay
ELA advises on all aspects of employment, including a worker’s entitlement to holiday pay. Specifically, ELA can advise both employers and employee so their rights, including who has the right to paid holidays, who does not have the right to paid holidays, when an employee can take holiday pay, what notice must be given before an employee takes holidayand being sick while on holiday.
Receiving holiday pay is an important perk for an employee. It helps them to relax and later, re-focus on the job at hand, therefore making an employee more productive in the long term. ELA can advise both employers and employers on the benefits of holiday pay and how to comply with the current legislation.
Sick pay
ELA advises both employees and employers about sick pay. If you are an employer, you will have to pay sick pay to employees who qualify. If you are an employee, ELA can advise you on whether you qualify, and what to do if you do qualify. As well as helping with the administration of making a claim, ELA can help an employee get the right approach with their employer in order to receive the sick pay they are entitled to. ELA advises employers about the responsibilities they have by law to provide sick pay where appropriate.
SSP is paid to employees who are unable to work because of sickness. SSP is paid by your employer for up to a maximum of 28 weeks.SSP is not paid for specific illness or treatment but to all employees, who are incapable for work and who satisfy the conditions for payment.
You must have worked for your employer under a contract of service. Even if it is your first day of work with a new employer and you become sick part way through the day you may be entitled to SSP.
To get SSP you must be aged between 16 or over and under 65 (these age limits will be removed from 1 October 2006), sick for at least 4 or more days in a row (including weekends and bank holidays). This is known as a Period of Incapacity for Work, earn, before tax and National Insurance an average of £84.00 a week. This is called the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions (NIC). The amount you need to earn is lower than the amount when you have to start paying NIC’s.
Your earnings are averaged, over an 8 week period before your sickness began. This period may vary slightly depending on whether you are paid weekly or monthly paid, or at other intervals. If you have just started your job the calculation may be different, contact your employer for more information.
Working from home
ELA provides advice on all employment issues, for both employers and employees. Termination is just one area – whether that be for unfair dismissal, resignation or redundancy. We have experts in the field of discrimination whether that be racial discrimination, discrimination on grounds of your belief, or your sexual orientation. Are you being sexually harassed in the workplace? ELAs labour law advice can help with issues relating to remuneration - sick pay, holiday pay and work related benefits such as company cars, tax breaks, mortgage breaks and mobile phone allowances. Hiring new employees is a issue which needs careful consideration. We can advise you on employing people under the age of 18, individuals who are still at school, disabled employees, part-time workers, working parents and other issues to help you comply with the latest legislation. Employment policies need consideration. We can advise on the best company car policies, email policies and other work related policies. Furthermore, we are experts in the field of Human resources – hiring new employees, employee assessment and dismissal are all areas we can assist with.
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