Workplace Report March 2013

Personal injury claims - Government reforms that come into force in April will bring changes to way civil litigation cases are processed; Energy sector - There has been over most of the last six years a positive energy pay gap; Latest case law on contracts and employment tribunals

Pay and prices

Settlements still lag prices (253 words)

Pay continues to be eroded by inflation. The latest figures from the Labour Research Department’s Payline database of collective agreements ...
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Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (223 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered). ...
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Full-time weekly average earnings (41 words)

Source: ASHE 2012 uprated by AWE. ...
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Average weekly earnings (AWE) (151 words)

Total pay including bonuses. Percentage annual ...
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Other pay analysts (25 words)

...
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Prices (76 words)

1 Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ...
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Inflation forecasts (33 words)

Fourth quarter 2013 ...
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Bargaining news

Progression to be hit by chancellor’s pay curbs (775 words)

Chancellor George Osborne announced in his 2013 Budget that he is extending his public sector pay curbs to the system of pay progression and is also ...
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Bring back wages councils, says TUC’s O’Grady (483 words)

The re-introduction of wages councils, abolished by the last Conservative government in 1993, should be part of the solution to the crisis in living ...
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National or local bargaining? (267 words)

Two unions — Unite and Unity — have taken two different approaches to industry bargaining. ...
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‘Aberdeen Weighting’ agreed (263 words)

British Gas has agreed a system of retention payments or “Aberdeen Weighting” which will apply to eligible grades including technical ...
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Fears about inflation rates as RPI gets downgraded (409 words)

Two new measures of inflation have been introduced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, the longstanding Retail Prices Index (RPI) ...
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College unions put their 5% claim in early (326 words)

Pay rises due last year had only just been applied at some of England’s further education colleges when unions met employer representatives ...
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Lords oppose sale of rights (251 words)

In a victory for union campaigners, the House of Lords has voted against the coalition government’s move to allow employees to give up some ...
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Equality news

Call for investigation over maternity discrimination (401 words)

Worrying findings have led to calls for a new maternity discrimination investigation amid concerns that “attitudes are hardening”. ...
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Pay gap is just one issue facing women in their 50s (370 words)

Women in their 50s earn nearly a fifth less than men of the same age, making it the widest gender pay gap of any age group, according to a recent ...
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Increase in unpaid parental leave (157 words)

As of last month parents are entitled to an additional five weeks’ unpaid parental leave. ...
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Flexible working code (123 words)

Conciliation service Acas has launched a consultation on a draft code of practice to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees. ...
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Learning and training news

Incentives for apprenticeships (276 words)

Two new reports from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) focus attention on the role of employers in increasing training and job ...
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Recruitment and organisation news

Union fights back over scrapping of recognition at Virgin Media (275 words)

Virgin Media, which tore up agreements with its two recognised unions last December, will be forced to fight again this year to keep the unions out. ...
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More recognition successes (139 words)

Health service union UNISON has signed what it calls a “historic” recognition agreement with Cornwall’s out-of-hours GP ...
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UNISON Target is 100% (173 words)

Public services union UNISON has launched a major recruitment drive in what general secretary Dave Prentis described as “the most traumatic ...
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European news

Irish unions are divided over Croke Park II agreement (514 words)

Members of Irish public sector unions are currently voting on a new deal on pay and conditions. Although Ireland’s largest public sector ...
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Above-inflation rise agreed in German public sector (214 words)

Unions have reached an agreement on a pay rise for the around 800,000 public sector employees working at the regional level in Germany. ...
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IG Metall pay claim (59 words)

Germany’s largest union —IG Metall — has agreed its claim for 3.7 million employees in the metalworking and electrical industry. ...
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Workers at Ford Genk agree redundancy terms (181 words)

Workers at Ford’s assembly plant in Genk, Belgium, which is being closed, have accepted the redundancy terms being proposed by the company. ...
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Danish municipal workers pen deal (112 words)

Unions representing some 500,000 local government workers have reached agreement on wage increases over the next two years. ...
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Law - Contracts

Contracts - the law (424 words)

Employment rights depend, as a minimum, on the presence of an “employment relationship”. There are important legal distinctions ...
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Employment contract starts from date of accepting job offer (652 words)

In January 2009, Mr Welton joined the Sheffield store of his employer, with a working week from Sunday to Saturday. The store closed down on 23 ...
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Cabin crew bound by signed employment contract (621 words)

The two claimants worked in the UK as airline cabin crew for the UK subsidiary of the Australian national carrier Quantas on a secondment arrangement. ...
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Employee bound by contract he did not sign or return (287 words)

Mr Lacy joined his employer as a graduate entrant and then worked for several years under a signed contract that contained no restrictive covenants. ...
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Employment status hinges on employer’s right to control (225 words)

White and Todd were caretakers/managers of a small Surrey estate for absentee owners who visited once or twice a year. Their contract gave them ...
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Rules in agreement on job evaluation process not binding (373 words)

Ms Simpson was employed as a bilingual teaching assistant by the London Borough of Hackney. She started work on Pay Grade 1. Over a period of around ...
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Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals - the law (296 words)

Most tribunal claims must be lodged within three months of the matter complained of. Tribunals can extend the time limit in unfair dismissal claims ...
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Tribunal claim ruled out of time as it was filed one day late (419 words)

Ms De Souza, a recruitment consultant at Manpower UK Limited, was refused permission to continue with claims of unfair dismissal and race ...
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Claims can be struck out at pre-hearing review (416 words)

Ms Eastman took a four-year career break policy from supermarket chain Tesco. Under the retailer’s career break policy, staff who took a ...
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Legal representation refusal at disciplinary and human rights (441 words)

Ms Parry, a probate registrar, argued that her dismissal was unfair, partly due to a refusal by her employer, the Ministry of Justice, to allow ...
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Health & safety news

Increased risk of breathing problems for cleaners (327 words)

Strong evidence for a link between cleaning jobs and the risk of developing asthma has been found by a recent study. ...
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‘Justice denied’ on deaths (246 words)

Construction union UCATT is calling for urgent action to be taken to ensure that companies responsible for the death of a construction worker are ...
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Public not private testing of lorries (122 words)

The privatisation of heavy vehicle testing will have a detrimental impact on road safety, unions from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency ...
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Reps should get training (117 words)

Union safety reps should take time out for training to make sure they maximise their effectiveness, says the TUC in a new factsheet. ...
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Inspections make for safer workplaces (156 words)

Trade unions want to see more inspections of all businesses as it is the most effective way of ensuring compliance with the law. That’s the ...
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Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Reps can check workplaces are safe from killer gas (388 words)

The deaths of a number of people at home from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning highlight the need for proper installation and maintenance of gas ...
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Protecting lone workers (321 words)

There are between three and four million lone workers operating in the UK at any one time, according to estimates from the Office for National ...
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HSE advice on new First aid rules (268 words)

Changes to the 1981 Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations are expected to come into force this October. The main change is that there will be no ...
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Features

Trade unionists will be among the millions who will lose out (3,242 words)

Government reforms changing the way that civil cases are processed and funded will start to take effect next month. The reforms apply across civil ...
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Is there renewed confidence in power generation and supply? (1,846 words)

By labour market standards the energy sector is small but strategically important and often packs a punch when it comes to pay and conditions. It ...
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