Employers can often be confused as to whether or not they need to allow their staff smoking breaks. Well, Wednesday the 13th March 2019 is National No Smoking Day, so we’ve put together the following guidance. Hopefully this article will clear this up for you. More...
On the 1st April 2019, there will be the annual increase to the National Minimum Wage (NMW). More...
March is “National Bed Month” (No, this does not mean that we can spend March in bed). It is organised by The Sleep Council with the aim to remind us all of why a sound sleep is good for our health.
Sleep (and the lack of) affects every aspect of our waking lives, both personal and working. How much sleep an individual gets has an effect on all aspects of their working life such as productivity, performance, safety and morale, as well as their health.
In order to maintain health and normal activity, it is recommended that an individual has between seven and nine hours a night. It is estimated that a third of adults do not get the recommended sleep. More...
Olympic cyclist, Jess Varnish, made claims at the Manchester Employment Tribunal that she was subject to unlawful detriments having made protected disclosures (a.k.a. whistle blown). This centred on the termination and non-renewal of her Podium Performance Agreement when she was a professional cyclist with the GB Cycling team.
But she never got as far as finding out whether her claim was valid, because the tribunal found that she was not an “employee” or a “worker” and so didn’t have the correct employment status to bring the whistleblowing claim at all.
But the challenges wouldn’t have ended there. More...
Gemma Bailey, Partner and Head of Employment Litigation and Disputes here at Howells, has been providing her professional observations to WalesOnline (read the full article here) regarding the practical challenges for those of us with mental health problems and our rights regarding taking time off work to manage them. More...
