Page 5 - SME Toolkit: The Star Covid-19 Edition

Wednesday,May27,2020 www.thestar.co.uk THESTAR 5
EMPLOYMENT LAW
in association with
PREPARE TO HIT THE GROUND RUNNING
Bosses should use lock- down to assess their workforce and make any changes now so they can hit the ground running
when they reopen.
Employment lawyer Jay Bhayani says managers should get perfor- mance and con-
performance and conduct issues as possible out of the way so when you reo- pen you have got the right people to hit the ground running.
“Deal with disciplinar- ies and grievances and issues with employees who
haven’t performed well for a long
duct issues out
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decide who
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thenbeclear who they want to go.
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down, Bhayani
HR & Employment
Law has seen ‘hundreds’ of firms close, especially pubs and restaurants. And many that survive will end up smaller, says Jay.
Outsourcing that dif- ficult process to a third party like her can be better all round.
m a n a g e d firmswhere t h e y a r e themselves partofthework- force. We are an independent third party, a sounding board offering advice that can take care of
the practical element too. “You need to be clear, patient and follow correct procedures otherwise you
BhayaniHR&Employment
ficult, espe- c i a l l y i n
59ShorehamSt,S14SB Phone:01143032300 jay@bhayanilaw.co.uk
time.
“It is dif-
will end up at a tribunal. “Day in day out, we get clients through that
She said: “We are say-
ing ‘do it now’. Get as many minefield.” Bhayani staff members Lindsey Gaimster, Alice Bradshaw, Jay Bhayani, Phoebe Davies, Kathryn Gilbert and Sarah Coates-Madden.
We can help you use this time to make difficult decisions
Jay Bhayani of Bhayani HR & Employment Law
FIRMS HAD NO CHANCE TO PLAN
Jay Bhayani
ON HOLIDAYS
One of the big issues is around holiday during furlough. Employees don’t want to use up their holidays when they can’t go anywhere.
Businesses anticipate facing too many requests for accrued holiday after lockdown to be able to function properly when restrictions are lifted later in theyear. Initially,guidance wasn’t clear but the latest HMRC rules now allow a better management of holiday accrual. Bosses have two choices: allow workers to
carry over some of their holidays, or force them to take it now.
Jay Bhayani says ‘carry over’ legislation has been introduced allowing key workers to move up to four weeks holiday from this year to next year, or the year af- ter. That’s the case if workers are not currently able to take their holidays, for example in compa- nies where they are very busy due to Covid 19, such as supermarkets and PPE equipment makers. Different industry sectors are dealing with very different things - some facing closure in the short term or even permanently, whilst others are seeing a sharp rise in take up of a service or product. Companies also have the power to insist staff take holidays if they give notice correctly of twice the amount of the holiday required. “Those on furlough can be made to take holiday, but you have to top up their wages to 100 per cent,” said Jay.
But furloughing, or unfurloughing people, pay cuts, and mandated and carry over holidays, all need the right paperwork. And HMRC requires a written record of claims to be kept for five years for the furlough scheme.
The team at Bhayani HR and Employment Law, Sheffield.
NEW CHANGES TO CONTRACTS
When lockdown was announced, firmshadalottodealwithina short time and some decided to shut down straight away.
A second wave went under due to cash flow issues before the furlough scheme was launched on April 20. Employment lawyer Jay Bhayani predicts a spike in tribunals at companies accused of unfair dismissal and not pay- ing wages.
She said: “What made it chal- lenging was how quickly it happened, firms had no chance to plan. Before the furlough
scheme was announced some employers jumped the gun and closed down and some fired people. Some could face unfair dismissal or unlawful deduction of wages claims.”
The companies that fur- loughed their workforce are thinking what to do in
the months ahead.
“It’s likely a lot are looking at redundancies, changes to terms and conditions, staff working fewer days or pay cuts. Out- sourcing this work to a third party is better all round.”
As if bosses didn’t have enough to deal with during the pandemic, they also need to get to grips with changes under the Good Work Plan.
From April 6 all employees must be given a written statement of their terms of employment on or before their first day - it used to be within two months. Those considered ‘workers’ include people on zero- hour contracts and casual con- tracts and they all now have the legal right to receive a contract which must be tailored to work- ers’ arrangements. Contracts
must include much more informa- tion around probationary periods, hours and days of work, details of paid leave and any training entitle- ment. When making holiday calcu- lations, the pay reference period has increased from 12 to 52 weeks. For employees with less than 52 weeks’ service, the pay reference period will be the total number of weeks they have worked so far. As of April 2020, there is a ban on employers taking tips away from employees. This is of particular interest to those working in the hospitality sector.
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