The Court of Appeal has ruled that doctors and dentists employed by NHS bodies in England are entitled to legal representation at disciplinary hearings. The appeal court’s ruling suggests that employees of other public sector organisations sho...

Statistics for 2009-10 released by the Tribunals Service this week reveal that claims to employment tribunals have dramatically increased this year. Despite an overall drop in 2008-9, when the number of claims was 151,028, claims have soared to 236,...

The Government has today published a consultation on employment tribunal reform.  The consultation floats a wide-range of proposals, going well beyond the measures which were rumoured to be up for consideration. The consultation document inclu...

As a follow-up to our previous employer survey on proposals to reform the employment tribunal system, in January 2012 we conducted a second survey seeking views on the introduction of tribunal fees, on the Government’s decision to al...

The Government has this afternoon published the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which will, if passed, introduce some of the tribunal and dispute resolution measures previously announced (see HR ...

HR Consultancy Temporary worker maximum pay limits revisedINPS has announced new monetary limits for temporary workers, to be revised on a yearly basis. Vouchers represent a pay system for temporary workers i.e. those workers who do not have a stand...

HR Consultancy An employee who forwards company files to his lawyer cannot be firedThe dismissal of an employee who forwarded more than 200 files, containing confidential information about the employer’s business, to his lawyer was ruled unlaw...

HR Consultancy Companies in financial difficulty: Opportunity for employees to take over companies in financial difficultyEmployees of companies in financial difficulty will be able to carry on the business of the company through advance payment of ...

HR Consultancy Jobs Act now in force – part 1Key changes are as follows:• Fixed term contracts: - no need to specify reasons justifying term of up to 36 months;- extensions admitted up to 8 times in 36 months;- no more breaks required bet...

HR Consultancy Undeclared work (black market)The Ministry of Labour has planned inspections for 2014, deciding to make no less than 230,000 checks aimed at combatting undeclared work and includes 50,000 accesses and a focus on the 11 “metropol...

HR Consultancy Jobs Act: the draft law passed to the SenateAmong the innovations provided by the draft law - which completes the so called Jobs Act and was sent to the Senate on the morning of the 1st April, for following a parallel procedure togeth...

Human Resources JOBS ACT - Fixed term employment contract: potential fines for those companies with 20% or more of their employees on fixed term contractsCurrent proposed amendments by the Jobs Act include (i) replacing the fine for conversion of fi...

Human Resources Jobs Act converted into LawThe final version of the labor reform under the so called Jobs Act (Law Decree no. 34/2014) has come into force following the publication in the Official Gazette of the conversion Law no. 78/2014. The main ...

HR Consultancy DURC: new system officially startedThe new system of internal DURC (“Documento Unico di Regolarità Contributiva”), through which the INPS (“Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale”) ensures the regul...

HR Consultancy Jobs ActAccording to the Minister of Labour, Giuliano Poletti, the government bill is likely to be approved by the Parliament later this year. The text of the bill is likely to be approved by the Senate of the Italian Republic in July...

The 1993 Working Time Directive lays down basic principles concerning maximum weekly working hours, amongst other things. For some time now, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament have been debating whether the directive should be revised...

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has issued a judgment that confirms that TUPE can, in some cases, bind incoming employers to pay increases negotiated by the outgoing employer under a collective agreement after the date of the TUPE transfer.  Ba...

Despite a last ditch attempt to reach agreement to change the current rules, the 'opt–out' has survived the latest round of European discussions, namely conciliation talks between the European Council and the European Parliament. The opt&ndash...

While the recent media reporting of swine flu has dwelt on the obvious health and safety issues, the threat of a pandemic, whether now or in the next few months, also raises some practical challenges for HR departments across the country. Necessary...

After a delay of some two months from the usual release date, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) hourly rates that will apply from 1 October 2009, have been announced today, as follows: Workers aged 22 and over: £5.80 (up from the current &pou...

The Department for Work and Pensions has today published further details of its proposal to replace GP sick notes with 'fit notes' with effect from April 2010 and has launched a public consultation on the design and content of the new medical certif...

This morning the House of Lords has handed down its judgment in the case of HMRC v Stringer and others, so concluding the long running saga of how employers should deal with holiday entitlement for those workers who are off sick. The House of Lords&...

We received an excellent response to our recent survey concerning employer reaction to swine flu (Full Article