Rojgar Job News

Over the last 12 months we have seen a significant increase in queries on whistleblowing in the workplace. It seems that more and more individuals are “blowing the whistle” and claiming they have been dismissed or suffered a detriment for having done so. In light of this, we have recently run whistleblowing workshops in each of our UK offices. In this blog post and a number to follow, we share some of the learning points for HR from these workshops, together with answers to some of the questions we were asked. As our workshops demonstrated, the law in this area can be complex, but handling allegations of whistleblowing in the workplace doesn’t have to be. Learning point 1: assume that all workers who raise complaints are protected under the whistleblowing provisions   Whistleblowing complaints are not always easy to identify. Not all complaints about potential wrongdoing in the workplace will attract protection under the whistleblowing provisions in the Emplo...

So now that the slow movement back to workplaces has started, the next hot question will be this: “If I don’t want to go back in because I fear infection if I do, can my employer make me?” The short and absolutely definitively answer to this is no.  And yes. It cannot compel you to return but subject to certain conditions (below) you cannot then compel it either to keep paying you or to continue your employment. Some of our clients’ employees have received stark emails in shouty capitals this week telling them categorically not to return to work and that if they don’t, their employer has to keep paying them regardless.  Those emails do not appear to be claimed by any particular organisation, which is both telling and quite sensible.  Telling, because if you thought that was a valid position on behalf of the working men and women of Britain, you would surely put your name to it.  Sensible, since not doing so denies employers the ability t...

On top of the flexible working rules (see Parts 1-3), another piece of existing law likely to get a pandemic-related dusting-off in the months to come is our old friend whistleblowing. If you face what is otherwise a fairly clear redundancy situation because Covid-19 has gutted your employer’s market, what better way of upping the ante than to assert that your selection is retaliation for complaints you have made about the inadequacy of your employer’s health and safety measures?  In a stroke, you can side step both the requirement of two years’ service before you can claim unfair dismissal, and/or the cap on compensation if you do. Well yes, sometimes.  But it is both harder for the employee to make a protected disclosure than it sounds and easier for the employer to dodge the bullet in its response than you might think. Blowing the whistle at law requires you to do more than air unspecific reservations about your employer’s approach to the virus....