Category: Legal Bulletin

There is a challenge for employers as thousands of people are still feeling unwell months after contracting coronavirus, with some having to take extended periods of time off from work.

In March 2020, the Government announced that, due to coronavirus, employees who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement this year will be able to carry it over into the next two leave years. Leave years normally run from January to December or from April to March.

Redundancy is a potentially fair reason for dismissing an employee. However, an employment tribunal will not treat a dismissal as a redundancy dismissal unless it is caused by: he closure of a business; the closure of a particular workplace; or a diminished need for employees to carry out work of a particular kind.

With more and more countries being removed from the travel exemptions list, an increasing number of employees are being forced to quarantine for fourteen days when they return home to the UK – but what are the implications for employers and what is the situation around pay?

As employers assess the significant impact that the Coronavirus pandemic has had on their business, and plans and strategies are developed for the future, one of the unfortunate outcomes may be the need to reduce employee headcount as part of a restructure.

Coming to terms with the death of an employee will be distressing for everyone in the organisation. Employers should consider carefully how best to support and communicate the news to the workforce, particularly those who worked closely alongside the deceased employee.

Unfortunately, one of the many consequences of the current coronavirus pandemic, could be that organisations may still have to consider a range of workforce measures in order to survive, including making redundancies.

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Lay-offs and short-time working are frequently used by employers as a useful way of handling temporary work shortages and adverse trading conditions without having to resort to redundancy.

Changes are being made to the written statement of terms and conditions of employment and regulations are in place to make significant changes to this from 6 April 2020.