The TUC Conference is taking place this week in Liverpool. We will provide a full update next week, but key areas for employers are the shared maternity leave, public spending cuts and the Agency Workers Directive. Oh, and there was a mention of high heels being banned in the workplace on health and safety ground!

Plans for extended paternity leave have been resurrected this week. This idea has been around for some years and there was a consultation on it in May 2007 but the recession forced the government to postpone their plans. Parents will be able to split ‘maternity leave’. After 6 months’ maternity leave, a mother will be [...]

New measures have been announced designed to make it harder for skilled foreign workers to take jobs in the UK under the points-based system. From 2010 all jobs will have to be advertised in a JobCentre for 4 weeks before employers attempt to employ staff from outside Europe. Overseas workers who want to transfer to [...]

Employers who fail to adequately protect their staff from swine flu could face lawsuits according to lawyers. According to employment law firm Dickinson Dees, if staff can prove they contracted the virus at work – and their employer did not do enough to prevent infection – they could pursue costly personal injury claims under health [...]

A teacher made redundant due to falling pupil numbers has been awarded £75,650 compensation. Alexander Lafferty, a teacher at a school in Renfrewshire was the only teacher made redundant following a police probe that led to councils suspending student placements at the school. A Glasgow employment tribunal ruled that Lafferty was unfairly dismissed, noting that [...]

We have tried to post useful updates on this topic since the spread of swine flu became apparent a few months ago. The number of confirmed cases in Scotland is on the rise, and we have already witnessed some deaths in the UK as a result of the condition. There are fears worse is to [...]

Viewers of The Apprentice saw Yasmina appointed as Sir Alan Sugar’s latest apprentice last night. Sugar said the calibre in this year’s show was the best yet, and that he appointed Yasmina on “gut instinct” after a close challenge with rival Kate. He urged people who had been made redundant as a result of the [...]