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Welcome to my occasional burst of enthusiasm on the tiresome topic of employment law, best practices and how to avoid all the issues that befuddle when you're trying to employ people. As usual, these are my views, and appropriate advice should be sought to fit your specific circumstances. I am not liable if you don't do this.
May 2004
Email!
So many trials and tribulations with this so called informal mode of communication. So many cases at the Tribunals for sexual harassment, discrimination, derogatory remarks - you name it!
Email is just as binding in law as any other form of communication, so whilst you may be chatty, be careful in what you say. And make sure your employees are too. Also, a good amount of personal correspondence is conducted in the workplace in this way too, which can land the employer in hot water, as you are supposed to be responsible for your staff even when they are not dealing with your business as they should be in working hours.
You need an acceptable use policy, or you will be legally liable. We might just have one somewhere!
Write it down!
If you ever get the pleasure of a tribunal hearing, stack the odds in your favour by making sure you have a good evidence trail, with no personal jottings in it.
Keep all job applications (yes, the unsuccessful ones) for 4 months to ensure you can't be sued for discrimination. Make sure you have an up to date employment contract and staff handbook. Make sure your employees have signed and returned a copy, or if not, you have chased them, found no issue, and tracked they have kept to the letter of the unsigned contract!
ANY disciplinary meeting, even informal, needs some notes for the employees file. The tribunal needs to know when you spoke to someone, why, and what the result was. If you need to have a formal disciplinary meeting, you may need witness statements. Proper ones, not a few scribbled lines - you may need to produce them in Court. Include date, time, who was there etc. A signature would help from the witness! No improper remarks in your handwritten notes please.
In simple terms, assume you will one day attend a tribunal, so keep the paper trails and law on your side, and then you probably won't have to.
Disciplinary meetings
You know the full procedure - informal warning, written warning, final written warning, exit meeting. So long, so much effort. And often, it's with someone who has not been with you for long - you made a mistake employing them, and they have transgressed but you don't want to go through this long winded rigmarole. Well, you don't have to. If they have been with you for less than 12 months, AND there is a relevant clause in their contract of employment, you can short circuit most of the disciplinary process.
Data Protection Act
Remember this now cover paper records as well as computerised. You are all registered aren't you? We can help if needs be. But what is personal data and who has a right to access it? For many employees this is a God given right to have a nose in their personnel files. But the Court of Appeal has held that the right to access is solely to determine its accuracy. You can refuse any other requests. Also, the purpose of the Act is to monitor how data is held and if it is appropriate. Amongst other things. So if your data is held in a manner which means that it is not structured by reference to an individual, you can refuse access. You can for example organise your personnel files by date instead of by any specific heading, in which case you can refuse any request!
Coughs and colds
So many odd days off, are they all justified or is someone swinging the lead? Two tips here.
First, make sure your sickness and absence forms record the days of the week, as well as the dates off. A lot of absences are Mondays or Fridays. You can at least start to track this now.
Second, do a back to work interview when the employee comes back. It only needs to take 10-15 minutes, and allows you to discuss the reason for absence. Is it anything to do with the work environment? Head off a potential claim here! What were their symptoms, how well have they recovered, do they need any monitoring!? Please make notes! And be consistent.
Amazingly, in most companies where this is done, the short term sick days go down once the employees who may be skiving know that someone is checking.
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