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Workplace Report May 2014
Standby and callout - Survey reveals the best rates from Labour Research Department’s Payline database; Pensions - An analysis of the latest developments in how workers can provide for their postworking life; Latest case law on discrimination
Pay and prices
Settlements keep pace with retail inflation (260 words)
In April, pay settlement rises continued to match the rise in the cost of living, the latest figures show. ...
Subscribers only
Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (224 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered) ...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (41 words)
Source: ASHE 2013 uprated by AWE. ... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (152 words)
Total pay including bonuses. Percentage annual increases ... Open access
Other pay analysts (24 words)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/forecasts-for-the-uk-economy-may-2014 ... Open access
Prices (76 words)
1 Retail prices index, Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
Inflation forecasts (34 words)
Fourth quarter 2014 ... Open access
Bargaining news
Crunch time for local government pay despite adoption of Living Wage (806 words)
Ballots for strike action by workers covered by the UK’s largest collective agreement, the local authority staff NJC ‘Green Book’ for England, ... Subscribers only
More employers should let staff try working from home (431 words)
The number of people who say they usually work from home increased by 62,000 over the last year to more than four million for the first time, the TUC ... Subscribers only
Pay rise of 7.3% is in the post (308 words)
A long-running pay and job security dispute at the publicly owned Post Office may be over, while at the now-privatised Royal Mail Group increased ... Subscribers only
Victory at Ealing NHS trust (280 words)
Workers employed by the outsourcing firm Compass (Medirest) at Ealing NHS Hospital Trust, London, called off strike action in early April after ... Subscribers only
Universities get 2% rise as FE rejects derisory 0.7% (442 words)
Lecturers and other higher education (HE) staff have secured a rise of 2%, from later this year, following a campaign of industrial action, but there ... Subscribers only
N Ireland agricultural wages play catch up (378 words)
The new minimum rate for agricultural workers in Northern Ireland is £6.47 an hour, following a 1.85% pay award from last month. ... Subscribers only
Zero-hours contracts (133 words)
British employers are using around 1.4 million employee contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours, the Office for National Statistics ... Open access
Take-home pay (149 words)
Payments technology provider Vocalink recorded “the fastest growth in UK private sector take-home pay” in March since the summer of 2012 in ... Open access
Equality news
Two-thirds jobless within two years of disability (372 words)
More than 430,000 disabled people fell out of work last year, according to a new report on the experience of disabled people at work, from the ... Subscribers only
Default ‘flexible’ approach would help older women (312 words)
The proportion of older women working flexibly has fallen since 2010, according to an analysis of official labour market statistics undertaken for ... Subscribers only
TUC autism guide aims to counter ignorance and prejudice (286 words)
The TUC has launched its first guide to autism in the workplace. ... Subscribers only
Learning and training news
One in five inspired to go on to higher education (257 words)
Increasing numbers of apprentices are progressing into higher education (HE) following their apprenticeships, new research from the Department for ... Subscribers only
Face up to quality advice (93 words)
Face-to-face advice is key to quality careers guidance for young people, says public service union UNISON. ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Coalition attacks bring PCS refocus (507 words)
The coalition government’s cuts in union facility time and its threat to withdraw check-off arrangements have led the PCS civil and public service ... Subscribers only
European news
French workers can now shut off work emails (428 words)
Unions and employers in the technology and consultancy sectors in France have signed a deal that gives workers a clear right to disconnect from work ... Subscribers only
Spanish unions want ‘bigger increase’ (143 words)
The latest official figures from the Spanish labour ministry show very small increases in pay in the first four months of the year. Based on 670 ... Open access
German workers get real pay rises even after delayed implementation (484 words)
Unions have negotiated more deals where pay is going up by more than inflation as the German economy continues to grow. ... Subscribers only
Law - Discrimination
Discrimination - the law (1,112 words)
Since 1 October 2010, discrimination law has been contained in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). With a few notable exceptions, the laws in the EA 2010 ... Subscribers only
Reasonable adjustment would have been transfer closer to home (455 words)
Ms Jamil, worked in the Ealing office of Job Centre Plus. Her travel time to work took around one hour and twenty minutes each way. She suffered from ... Subscribers only
Complex employment status led to beautician’s failed claim (570 words)
Ms Halawi worked as a uniformed beauty consultant at the Heathrow World Duty Free (WDF) store where she sold the products of beauty company Shiseido. ... Subscribers only
Claim could be heard despite woman’s illegal work status (543 words)
Ms Wijesundera was a Sri Lankan national who was working legitimately in the UK under a sponsored work permit. She was made redundant, but she wanted ... Subscribers only
Met discriminated by not returning dog to handler (251 words)
Police constable Keohane was a Metropolitan Police dog handler. The Met operated a policy of withdrawing and reallocating the police dogs of handlers ... Subscribers only
Immigration status does not equal nationality under Act (347 words)
Ms Taiwo was a Nigerian domestic migrant worker who was abused by her employer. She brought a claim for race discrimination. It reached the Court of ... Subscribers only
Cook left in legal limbo over racial harassment (426 words)
Mr Kemeh, a black British national was employed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a cook at their Falklands Islands base. ... Subscribers only
Post-maternity sick leave was outside ‘protected period’ (344 words)
Ms Lyons was dismissed after failing to return from maternity leave due to ongoing post-natal depression. She claimed unfair dismissal and ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Leaked report highlights culture of fear over safety (522 words)
Construction union UCATT has called for rail infrastructure group Crossrail and its main contractor Balfour Beatty Morgan Vinci (BBMV) to take action ... Subscribers only
Teachers condemn coalition (226 words)
Last month’s annual conference of the NASUWT teachers’ union was critical of the coalition government’s attacks on health and safety regulation ... Open access
Asbestos in schools (202 words)
A disappointing picture of lack of knowledge and awareness in many areas of asbestos awareness in schools has been revealed in recent surveys. ... Open access
Assaults on shop staff (90 words)
Every day over 300 shopworkers are assaulted simply for doing their job, leading to a call for a change in the law from shopworkers’ union Usdaw. ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Unions slate government’s ‘toxic’ record on safety (360 words)
The coalition government’s relentless attack on health and safety legislation could increase the risk of more accidents at work causing injury, ... Subscribers only
HSE consultation on control of hazardous substances (298 words)
The draft Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 2015 (COMAH Regulations 2015) implementing the European Seveso III Directive ... Subscribers only
New HSE chief executive (183 words)
Construction workers’ union UCATT has expressed disappointment over the focus of the advertisement for the role chief executive of the HSE, which ... Open access
Occupational disease (87 words)
Recent figures show that over one million people are suffering from work-related illness and 12,000 people die each year from exposure to harmful ... Open access
Features
What employers pay for keeping staff hanging on the telephone (2,472 words)
Payments made to staff for being available for work outside their normal working hours vary widely. The best collectively agreed rates for standby ... Subscribers only
Auto-enrolment adds to worker numbers in DC pensions (2,295 words)
The future shape of workplace pensions continues to evolve with chancellor George Osborne putting the cat among the pigeons with his March 2014 ... Subscribers only