The Employment Jungle

The Employment Jungle

21 Jan 2008

How to cut a path through the employment jungle

 

To the untrained, taking on new staff can seem like a legal accident just waiting to happen. Here, legal experts from Lawgistics offer a step-by-step guide to getting the right person for the job quickly and simply
 

Have you ever wondered why you employ people? With all the regulations, employee rights and staff entitlements, the whole area of employing people has become a jungle nightmare.

Below is an issue-by-issue guide to some of the main danger areas involved in recruitment and the legal issues you should keep in mind.

Advertising

So you want to employ someone. You advertise and select the most likely candidates but be careful.
What you promise in the advert may become a term of the contract. Make sure you are not discriminating against someone in the words you use?

Selection

After drawing up your shortlist of selected candidates for interview, remember that you cannot ask discriminatory questions.
These might include examples like: “How do you feel about being the only female in an all male environment” or “as a single mum, how will you cope with a family crisis”.

Appointment

After choosing your candidate, you must provide them with a statement of their terms and conditions of employment within two months.
This is often called the ‘contract of employment’. Get this wrong and you are already in serious trouble.
If there is no suitably worded disciplinary and grievance procedure in force then if you sack anyone it will be deemed unfair dismissal and you will lose any subsequent court cases.

Enforcement

This is where having a solid contract of employment with clear terms and conditions is vital.

If your member of staff starts to under-perform in their work or behave in an inappropriate way, a clear and systematic set of terms of employment and a disciplinary and grievance procedure that is strictly adhered to will help you deal with the problem quickly, efficiently and with a minimum of upheaval for your business.

The situations where a good contract of employment is invaluable are numerous. Ask yourself what you would do if an employee:

• Gets a second job?
• Smokes in the workshop?
• Views porn on the internet?
• Drinks too much on the job?
• Refuses to wear safety equipment?
• Has a bad attitude to customers and staff?
  

These are all situations where a clear and comprehensive contract of employment and employment policies will help. Think about what you can do to tackle the problem and what back-up you have if the situation becomes more serious.

A solid contract of employment with policies can help you deal with everyday problems, including someone:

• Turning up slightly late every day
• Taking excessive days off sick
• Being abusive
• Stealing from the business
• Passing on confidential information
• Setting up a business in direct competition

Consider the following situations:

• Your employee ‘pops’ out for a fag break – but other people in the company who don’t smoke also want a break and resent the fact they are not allowed one.
• There is a bereavement in one member of staff’s family. Another employee wants time off become their cherished pet dog has died. Can they both have time off and what do you do if they take it?
• An employee decides to change gender. If other members of staff object, can you get rid of them?
• What if an employee reaching 65 wants to carry on working, are they allowed to? What happens if an employee wants to work part time or on flexible hours, what should you do?
• What if someone makes racist remarks because those around them do too?
  

Solutions

Finding a simple solution all depends on whether you have employment policies in place and whether you have the right clauses in the contract of employment. If not, you may be limited in your options.

These and many other matters all hinge on your contracts of employment and employment policies. Neglect these at your peril.

If an employee fails to meet performance targets, is constantly five minutes late each day or takes days off when they are not entitled to, can you dismiss them?

That all depends on whether you have employment policies in place and you had the right clauses in the contract of employment.

If not, you may be limited and if you have, it depends on whether or not you followed the disciplinary and grievance procedures correctly.

Employing people is a complex business and one that should not be undertaken lightly.  

It is for this reason that Lawgistics provides a complete employment service providing all the right contracts and policies and advising you on how to proceed in any situation.

There are also courses on the contract of employment as well as dismissal and redundancy procedures that you can attend.

The next course is a two-day event starting on 15 April at Lawgistics training centre in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire.
Do not assume everything will be alright when you employ someone.

If you don’t plan ahead then it won’t. And with payouts arising from employment cases now rising to up to £63,000, can you afford to assume you’ll be OK?

Find out more information by clicking on these links: 

• The Contract of Employment - 15th April
• Dismissal and Redundancy - 16th April
  

 

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