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The
National Minimum Wage |
| The
National Minimum Wage (NMW) was introduced on 1 April
1999. There have already been a number of instances of
employers being penalised for not complying with the
legislation. The Revenue is the agency that ensures
enforcement of the NMW. |
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Statutory Sick,
Statutory Maternity And Statutory Paternity Pay |
Statutory
Sick Pay (SSP), Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) are important regulations
to understand as they enforce minimum legal requirements
on employers. Each operates in a different way. This
factsheet sets out the main principles of the
regulations and what an employer needs to consider.
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Dismissal
Procedures |
| There have
been many changes to employment law and regulations in
the last few years. A key area is the freedom or lack of
freedom to dismiss an employee. |
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Recruitment Procedures |
Most claims
for discrimination in recruitment have no maximum limit.
Can your business afford compensation of perhaps £20,000
because you made a simple mistake?
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Redundancy
Procedures |
| There have
been many changes to employment law and regulations in
the last few years. A key area is the freedom or lack of
freedom to make an individual redundant. |
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Managing
Absence |
| Recent
surveys indicate that the adverse impact of absence on
business profitability today is significant, with
thousands of man hours lost every day. The average level
of sickness absence in the private sector in 2003 was
3.1% ie eight days per employee per annum, with an
average cost to employers each year of £567 per
employee. |
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Health and
Safety |
| It is very
likely that owners and managers of many smaller
businesses are not aware of just how demanding health
and safety regulations can be. |
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Legal
Working in the UK |
| In line
with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006,
it is a criminal offence to employ anyone who does not
have an entitlement to work in the UK, or undertake the
type of work you are offering. Any employer who does not
comply with the law may be facing a fine of up to
£10,000 per offence. Further, if employers knowingly use
illegal migrant labour it could carry a maximum 2 year
prison sentence and/or unlimited fine. |
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Age
Discrimination |
| On 1
October 2006, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
2006, one of the most far reaching pieces of legislation
this century came into force to prevent discrimination
against workers, employees, job seekers and trainees on
the basis of their age. |
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| (Locked) Annual
Leave |
| Under the
Working Time Regulations 1998 workers are entitled to
paid statutory annual leave and prior to 1 October 2007
a worker was entitled to 4 weeks’ statutory paid leave.
As a result of new amended regulations statutory paid
leave was increased to 4.8 weeks annually (or 24 days
for an employee working 5 days per week) from 1 October
2007 and this will increase to 5.6 weeks from 1 April
2009. |
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