Employment Law Update - October 2009
TAKING SICK LEAVE INSTEAD OF PRE-ARRANGED HOLIDAY, RETIREMENT AT 65 REMAINS LAWFUL AND STATUTORY PAY INCREASES
TAKING SICK LEAVE INSTEAD OF PRE-ARRANGED HOLIDAY?
A recent decision of the European Court of Justice has held that where an employee's pre-arranged holiday coincides with a period of sickness, that employee must be allowed the option to designate an alternative period as holiday (even into the next holiday year).
If employers fail to allow revised holiday dates they risk an expensive employment tribunal claim.
Importantly, it is likely that private sector workers cannot benefit from this decision until the Government amends the relevant legislation. You may have time to consider your policies and implement any necessary alterations before the law changes.
With the widespread news coverage of this issue you may need to manage attempts by employees to exploit this decision. An employee could effectively increase their entitlement to annual leave by alleging that they were sick whilst on holiday. Strict requirements on the medical evidence needed to support sickness absences during pre-arranged holidays should be introduced (if not already in place) and enforced to help avoid any abuse of the system.
If you would like any guidance on reducing the cost of sickness absence to your business, or assistance in reviewing and amending your contracts of employment or sickness policies, please contact us.
RETIREMENT AT 65 REMAINS LAWFUL
In a more positive decision for employers, the High Court has recently ruled that the default retirement age of 65 is lawful.
This means that your business can continue to retire employees on or after their 65th birthday, provided that the correct retirement procedure is followed.
However, the Government has announced that it will be reviewing the default retirement age in 2010. We will keep you posted on future developments.
Retirement remains a useful way in which you can reduce payroll costs without having to resort to redundancies. However, care should be taken to ensure that the correct procedure is followed or you could face unfair dismissal and/or age discrimination claims (with potentially unlimited damages). If you require any guidance on retirements or reducing your payroll costs please contact us.
STATUTORY PAY INCREASES
NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
From 1 October 2009 the National Minimum Wage increased to:
- £5.80ph for workers aged 22 and over.
- £4.83ph for workers aged 18-21.
- £3.57ph for 16-17 year olds.
STATUTORY REDUNDANCY PAYMENT
From 1 October 2009, the maximum amount of 'a week's pay' for employees made redundant increased from £350 to £380 per week.
If you have any questions or issues relating to this e-mail or any other employment related matters please feel free to contact:
Alistair Latham
Tel: 01482 324591
e-mail: ail@sjplaw.co.uk
Mark Daubney
Tel: 01482 324591
email: mtd@sjplaw.co.uk
Please let us know if you would like us to contact you by an alternative method or by using a different e-mail address. If you would like these updates to be sent to anyone else in your organisation please send us their name and contact details.
To unsubscribe from our employment law updates simply reply with 'unsubscribe' as the subject of your e-mail.
DISCLAIMER:
The information and any commentary on the law contained in this e-mail is provided free of charge for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort is made to make the information and commentary accurate and up to date, but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by the author.
The information and commentary does not, and is not intended to, amount to legal advice to any person on a specific case or matter. You are strongly advised to obtain specific, personal advice from a solicitor about your case or matter and not to rely on the information or comments contained in this e-mail.
Stamp Jackson & Procter
Solicitors
5 Parliament Street
Hull
HU1 2AZ
Tel: 01482 324591
Fax: 01482 224048
www.sjplaw.co.uk
Back to news listing
