Questions and Answers

Date:3/1/2011 Posted by: Fiona Elliott Ref: #5
I have a member of staff who has requested the right to vary her start time because of child care arrangements which are dependant on her husband returning from night shift. She is effectively asking to be able to start anytime between 9am and 10.30am. We could just about accommodate this - we provide caring services - but it would mean her colleagues being very flexible and they are not happy about that. Do I have to grant her request?
Assuming her child is under 16 (or is disabled under 18), she has worked for you for at least 26 weeks, and she makes the application in writing then you have a statutory requirement to consider this request and come to a view within 12-14 weeks. You will need to arrange to meet within 28 days of receiving the request and allow her, if requested, to be accompanied by a work colleague or trade union representative.

You should keep an open mind when hearing the request. There are a number of reasons why you can refuse the request: additional cost, inability to reorganise work, inability to recruit extra staff, insufficient work during requested change, planned structural changes, or detrimental effect on customer demand / on quality / on performance. If you refuse the employee has a right to appeal within 14 days and you must hear this within 14 days.

It sounds like in the circumstances you describe it would be reasonable to consider collectively with the employee and her colleagues as to whether her request is possible, and perhaps agree a trial period to see how it might work. For further information see the ACAS guidelines.
Date:2/11/2011 Posted by: Mark Jackson Ref:#4
I regularly employ young people during holidays for seasonal fruit-related work. They are usually in the range of 14-17 years old, and at the moment I pay them all a flat rate of £30 per (roughly 10 hour) day which I think is the fairest way to do it. Do you see any problem with this?
Some of the young people in the age range mentioned are covered by the National Minimum Wage rates, so you need to watch out for that and ensure that they are paid appropriately. There are also working hour restrictions to be aware of. I would tend to segment your workforce into these groups:

14-15 year olds (and those who are 16 but not yet beyond the end of the school year of their 16th birthday) - Can only work for 5 hours per day Monday to Saturday (15/16 year-olds can work 8 hours), and up to 2 hours on a Sunday. 14 year olds can work a max of 25 hours per week; 15/16 year olds a max of 35 hours per week. Nor can the work before 7am or after 7pm. You will therefore need to calculate an hourly rate for them, but they are not covered by the Minimum Wage so you don't need to worry about that.
16-17 year olds (including 16 year olds who are beyond the end of the school year of their 16th birthday) - no significant restrictions on working hours, but this group would be entitled to the National Minimum Wage for 16-17s of £3.64 per hour.

There is also have an entitlement to holidays which starts to accrue as soon as they start working for you.
Date:2/11/2011 Posted by: Ian Keeley Ref: #3
We have recently taken over a small company, and are in the process of assimilating their staff. However we are finding the behaviour of these employees rather difficult as we try to bring them on to our working conditions. For example they dress inappropriately, are often rude to their managers, they abuse timekeeping rules and we also think they are misusing company phones and computers for personal use. What should we do about this?
The first thing is to be absolutely clear on what behaviours you require from these members of staff. An excellent way to achieve this is to implement a company wide handbook which contains all the information required in relation to performance standards which will apply to all Company staff- have a look at the template on this site. Not enough to just introduce it though. You might want to think about having training / familiarisation sessions about the handbook and the info it contains. You should also ensure each individual signs to say they have received a copy (or confirm they have read it if it is held electronically). Once staff are absolutely clear what is expected of them, any deliberate failure to meet these standards can be dealt with as misconduct issues utilising the disciplinary procedure.

Date:2/11/2011 Posted by: Claire Spiller Ref: #2
Hi - We are a fairly small organisation and every member of staff has to pull their weight. One person is not doing so, they are basically lazy, often late, disruptive and have a very poor short-term sickness record with lots of individual days off. Given all this is there any reason why I can't just dismiss them?
No you simply can't terminate in the way you suggest without running the risk of a finding of unfair dismissal (assuming the individual has at least 1 years service) should you end up at an employment tribunal. You need to ensure you have a fair reason to dismiss. The fair reasons in law for dismissal are:

1. Conduct - if they have broken the terms of their employment through such things as continually missing work, poor discipline or theft / dishonesty.
2. Capability - where they are unable to perform to the required standard for reasons such as inability to deal with new technology, inability to get along with fellow workers, or long-term persistent illness. (However if the long-term illness relates to a disability you have a legal obligation to make 'reasonable adjustments' to help the individual to work).
3. Redundancy - where there is no longer any, or enough, work for the employee in your workplace.
4. Retirement - you need to give your employees six months notice of their contractual retirement date, and consider any request they make to work past retirement. The legislation on this is due to change - watch this site for details
5. A Statutory Restriction - you can fairly terminate if continuing to employ would break the law e.g. you employ a driver who loses his licence. You would be expected to look for alternative employment before dismissal.
6. Another Substantial Reason - this is a general catch-all of other reasons - these can be such things as imprisonment of the employee, an unresolvable personality conflict etc. Generally the other reasons for dismissal should be relied on where possible as it is often more difficult to prove a 'substantial' reason.

In the case you refer to, I would suggest you look at going down the conduct route, and so you really need to have an effective disciplinary procedure in place. You will find one on this site. Ensure you properly investigate each episode of future potential misconduct that you identify, and issue warnings as appropriate. These soon mount up, and the individual concerned will either get the message and improve their behaviour, or you will have enough information to safely dismiss them.
Date: 1/11/2011 Posted by: Human Resource Solutions Ref: #1
How do I post a question on the Human-Resource-Solutions web site, what sort of questions should I ask, and how much will it cost me?
To post a question you should use the "Ask a Question" form full instructions are on the page itself. You can ask any HR related question - we specialise in supporting small and medium sized businesses who don't have access to an HR professional, or other HR resources. The service is free of charge - we maintain the site through revenue from the adverts you will see sprinkled throughout the site - we receive a few pennies when a visitor clicks on one of these adverts.

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