Welcome to the First HRoes Newsletter!

We’re excited to bring you the first edition of the HRoes newsletter, your bi-weekly trusted resource for staying informed in HR and employment law.

In this issue, we cover crucial updates, including the new sexual harassment duty that holds managers and business owners personally responsible, alongside company liability for prevention.

Plus, we'll help you navigate the latest government employment changes and share a wealth of valuable resources!

Soon casual 'banter' will be classed as sexual harassment

On 26th October 2024, a new duty comes into force for employers to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment.

Understanding the new Sexual Harassment Duty

The new duty will hold senior managers and business owners personally liable, in addition to the company's responsibility. Under the new regulations:

🙅 Unwanted physical contact

• May be considered sexual harassment.

📧 Inappropriate messages or emails

• May be considered sexual harassment.

🗣️ Comments on appearance or clothing

• May be considered sexual harassment.

Failure to comply with the new laws could lead to tribunal claims, causing significant harm to your company’s reputation and resulting in costly fines and legal settlements.

Protect your business against claims ✋

Join our FREE webcast with award-winning employment lawyer, advisor, trainer, and solicitor, Elissa Thursfield on the 8th Oct at 10:30 a.m. Elissa will guide you through the important changes and explain how to prevent your business from potential claims.

We'll be offering a free policy and risk assessment following the webinar, so be sure to join us!

REGISTER HERE

Hiring for Christmas? Are all your contracts up-to-date?

Your contracts will become invalid if they don't align with the latest government regulations.

📄 End of 0-hour contracts 

If you're especially busy this Christmas, you may no longer be able to rely on 0-hour workers after the upcoming ban. How will you adjust your hiring strategy?

📞 No contact after hours

Need to reach out to an employee about a mistake at the tills? Think again, workers can soon ignore communication outside work hours.

📆 Claims from day 1

Seasonal workers are entitled to full rights from day one. Is your business prepared to face a potential tribunal if an employee challenges you?

Other key changes:

• End fire-and-rehire tactic
• Right to request flexible working

Want to keep compliant with your hiring processes this season? Our chartered employment lawyers are here to review your practices, find out more about our consultancy services here.

Our HR consultancy treats more HR emergencies!

We’re also celebrating a huge milestone; HR:ER officially entered the top 20 UK HR podcasts! With three new outrageous episodes, including a highly anticipated guest series featuring Lucy Aylen , Gilly Cohen (Assoc CIPD) , and Paul McGregor , there's never been a better time to tune in.

🩺 When Are You Too Fat To Work?

🤥 Fired or Hired: What Happens When Employees Lie About Their Qualifications?

💡 How to Make Staff Training and Development Not BORING With Gilly Cohen, Head of Global Performance at YMU

Watch all episodes in video form on YouTube, and remember to hit the like button while you’re there! You can also enjoy our new spin-off series Employment Laws Around the World, sharing the most bizarre laws that govern the world of work.

Fancy more advice? Our top picks from the blog 🆕

😎 How to Legally Stalk Your Employees

In all seriousness, we never advocate stalking your employees, however, a bit of light touch monitoring in a GDPR-compliant way and is proportionate and properly justified and we are all over that with bells on.

🖱️ 'Mouse Jigglers' Fired

Despite it being a rather jolly-sounding term, mouse jiggling is serious stuff, so much so, that people have lost their jobs over it. A US company dismissed employees after a review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work.

🤢 How to Discuss Hygiene Issues

It’s one of the rare issues that can have HR desperately trying to avoid a conversation. Telling an employee that there is a perceived issue with their hygiene is an incredibly sensitive and difficult conversation to have.

Got any questions? Contact the authors Dawn Little and Elissa Thursfield or book a meeting directly with our team.