There are many myths surrounding employment law, some of them have firm backing to support the myth while others are simply not true and fall away as soon as it’s looked at in detail. One of the most common myths is that employees on long-term sick leave cannot be dismissed, but is this really true?

Can you be fairly dismissed on sick leave?

It’s a big worry for anyone who has been off work for a long time due to sickness, unless of course you believe the myth that you can’t be dismissed when off on sick. While there are many restrictions surrounding terminating an employee on long-term sick, there is nothing in place that completely prohibits this action from taking place.

So, in short, yes an employee can be fairly dismissed whilst on sick leave.

Why would you be dismissed?

There are a handful of things that could result in you being dismissed during long-term sick leave. This includes: More...

Times are tough enough in today’s economic climate without facing concerns about your current employment. From unfair dismissals to bullying and harassment at work, the issues surrounding employment can be extremely complex. Standing up to your employer can often seem daunting, confusing and ultimately futile, but this shouldn’t be the case.

A Guide to Employment Law

At Howells Solicitors we want to ensure that employers and employees alike feel confident in pursuing a fair outcome in any situation involving employment law. It’s for this reason that we created this video guide to offer basic advice on common legal issues surrounding employment.

In this short feature, we disucss the various actions employees can take if they feel they have been treated unfairly in the workplace.

The video covers issues such as:More...

It isn’t uncommon for people to announce their every thought, feeling and emotion over social media. You may post statuses about how you dread going to work on Monday morning to how you may have had one tipple too many on Saturday night to the resulting negative impacts about said tipple.

Typically, these posts are full of explicit language and very colourful images. This may not be a bad thing among your friends, but how would you feel if a potential employer saw this?

Social Media vs. Recruitment

According to many reports, in recent years more and more employers will look at would-be employee’s social media profiles in their recruitment processes. Employers want to make sure that they are hiring the right people, and this means conducting their own research via social media.

A recent study by ACAS found that 45% of employers already conduct social media research as part of their recruitment process, while a further 40% claimed that they would make more use of it in the future. More...

As it's the start of a brand new year, we thought it would be a great time to look back on 2014 to see what’s changed. New laws have been brought in, legislation has changed and Scotland almost left the UK. Here’s a complete roundup of everything that’s happened this year:

How Many Changes?

A record breaking number of changes to legislation have been brought in this year – 335 to be precise. That’s 95 more than last year and over 200 more than was seen a decade ago in 2004.  Many of these changes will have very little effect on the general public, however nobody will be completely untouched by these new laws which include:

Employment Law Changes

There have been several major changes to employment law during 2014, these will have an impact on both employers and employees. Some of the ones that you should be most aware of are:

•    Transfer of Undertaking Protection of Employment – there was talk of abolishing it entirely, but instead the policy has simply been adapted. Although the provision will be the pretty much the same, liability information now has to be provided 28 days before transfer and there must be an economic, technical or organisation reason for change of workplace location. 

•    Financial penalties for breaching employment rights – employers who breach employment rights will now face financial penalties of between £100 and £5,000 issued by tribunals.More...

As of the 1st December 2014 there have been changes to the law regarding shared parental leave – changes that also apply to those adopting a child. This modification allows parents to split the maternity/ paternity leave over 52 weeks.

Previously, fathers were able to take over leave from the mother after the baby is 20 weeks old. This has now changed as the mothers can give any unused maternity allowance to their partner as soon as compulsory leave has finished – this currently stands at two weeks.

What does this mean for employers?

These changes won’t have a large impact on most employers due to the fact that the time span hasn’t been massively changed. The biggest impact will be that employers will need to understand the new regulations and amend their procedures to take account of the changes. More...