At the end of last week the HMRC published more details on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme announced on 20 March, available here. Our detailed briefing available here sets out the key points from the new guidance and discusses some of the issues and unanswered questions that arise. Of course the definitive position will only … Read more
All employers will clearly be concerned about the impact on their staff and business of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to ensuring employees have a safe place to work, employers will need to facilitate remote working where possible and devise plans to deal with possible resourcing and supply chain issues, including considering the implications of … Read more
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have this morning suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for this reporting year (2019/20). The decision means that there will be no expectation on employers to report their data. See the announcement here. Read more
Employers are making decisions about adapting the way their workforces operate in the context of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. These are plainly circumstances without parallel or precedent, and so many businesses are relying on fundamental principles of risk management and business continuity planning, and attempting to apply them in this rapidly developing situation. The purpose … Read more
On 5 March 2020, the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) released its long-awaited report on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, “Respect@Work”. The report is the culmination of an 18-month inquiry, led by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. It is comprehensive and data-driven, and concludes (amongst other things) that the current legal framework is, in … Read more
Our Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives update this month looks at: our live webinar that discussed the continued impact of COVID-19 across the region and some of the challenges faced by businesses and organisations; In Indonesia, the proposals outlined in the draft Omnibus Bill on Job Creation, including among other things, widespread changes to termination … Read more
Employers should prepare now for the following changes coming into force in April: From 6 April 2020 employees will be entitled to two weeks’ statutory parental bereavement leave following the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. There is also a right to statutory pay for those with 26 … Read more
Last summer the Court of Appeal ruled that an employer’s failure to enhance shared parental pay in the same way as enhanced maternity pay was not unlawful direct or indirect sex discrimination or unequal pay (see here). The Court considered that a woman on maternity leave was not in comparable circumstances to someone on shared … Read more
The Government intends to make the following changes to statutory rates and tribunal compensation from April 2020: From 6 April 2020 the cap on the unfair dismissal compensatory award will increase from £86,444 to £88,519 and the cap on weekly pay (used to calculate the unfair dismissal basic award and statutory redundancy pay) will increase … Read more
