More People to be Covered by Disability Law
The House of Lords clarified the UK’s Disability Law and have awarded Elizabeth Boyle £125,000 compensation from her former employer.
The ruling means that more people with controlled, recurring conditions are covered by disability law.

£500 million Equal Pay Decision
Birmingham City Council could be facing a £500 million bill in back-dated pay and bonuses when nearly 5,000 women workers at the council, mainly employed as cooks, cleaners and care assistants, won a class action on equal pay at an employment tribunal after it was discovered their male counterparts were earning [...]

100% Increase in Fines paid for Illegal Workers

The total annual fines paid by employers for taking on illegal workers doubled last year, according to figures obtained from the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

Pay and Work Rights Helpline
More than 50,000 people have called a government helpline on workers’ rights since it launched in September and last week launched a video on YouTube giving advice for employees on basic work rights. View video here.
Source: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

Good question – which has two answers:  ‘Yes’ if you employ more than 250 employees and ‘No’ if less.
From 6 April 2010, approximately 11 million employees in Great Britain will have a new right to request ‘time to train’. This will be extended to cover employees in all businesses from 6 April 2011. [...]

Following on from my posting on new fit note I have been asked what other changes have occurred in April? Well its been quite quiet – no doubt to coincide with the election!
Anyway thought best to reaffirm statutory payment changes from previous blog summarised below.

Sick Note replaced by new Fit Note
If you missed or need a reminder of my blog article posted in February on this change click here and read all about todays introduction of the new ‘Fit Note’.
It also includes a link which explains how the new procedures will work.

Data Protection – £500,000 penalty rolled out
An area mostly ignored by smaller business – Data Protection. People have a vague idea when it might apply but as with most legislation there is a reluctance to look at it closely because of time constraints and it is seen as low priority in the bigger scheme [...]

In recent months there has been a lot of speculation both in the media and the courts on an employee’s right to ‘carry forward holiday leave entitlement not taken over into a new holiday year’.
Well at last some good news for business. A newsletter published by the law firm Wedlake Bell explains a recent judgement [...]

The Labour Market Outlook report produced by the CIPD this week revealed that job security was under further threat from the outsourcing of jobs abroad and reductions in spending by the Public sector.