Hope you’re all doing ok!
Last week was my first 3 day working week and WOW did I hit another level of exhaustion. This working mum stuff is tough right! Funnily enough, though, I am actually on annual leave this week. But you’ve only just started… and your only phasing back to work.. I hear you say! Yes that is very true butttt this week is all about quality family time. Oh and also reintroducing myself to my hubby with a few date days. I will also be showing him the delights of the world of soft play- mwaaahahahahahahah. We are also aiming to try and get some life admin sorted because ever since little lady has been here all of that ‘stuff’ has fallen to the wayside.
Another mission of mine is to try and find some more time for ‘me’. Its something that people continuously keep telling me and I also keep reminding myself to do- but its bloomin tough isn’t it! Like when do you find the time, what do you do with your ‘you’ time. Part of this mission is trying to find who I am again- I guess you just get swallowed by your new mum world and completely consumed by everything in it. Which is incredible and such a blessing that I will forever be grateful for, but you also do realise how much becoming new parents means you kind of lose who you were before. So I’m currently trying to find her….. who she is, what she likes and most importantly trying to prioritise me for once. So, wish me luck on that journey.
Buttt… enough of my deep inner thoughts… lets get cracking with the legal stuff shall we.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will now know that Labour is in power. Now one of the things they have pledged is to “bring in the ‘right to switch off’” in their wide ranging ‘Make Work Pay’ paper (oh how I sometimes wish Halle would give me the right to switch off!) By introducing this, it would provide workers with the right to disconnect from work outside of working hours and not be contacted by their employer.
It is reported that for any employers who are repeatedly in breach of any new right may face uplifted compensation claims from workers who have been contacted outside of their working hours.
How do we think this might be put in place? Well, it is understood that any new right is lightly to be enacted through a code of practice, probably through ACAS. It is said that although failure to follow this would not create a freestanding right to bring a claim to the Tribunal in itself, it could result in workers being able to claim up to a 25% uplift on compensation when bringing certain claims. This all sounds quite familiar right?!
So far, what we do know about the above is that any new ‘policy’ will be specific to individual workplaces and it will have an onus on employers to agree contact hours with workers and that ministers are aware of the potentially disproportionate impact this all may have on smaller businesses, so hopefully there will be some exceptions included in any legislation that lands.
So despite the above, we are still very unclear on the following things:
- What, exactly, will this code of practice mandate?
- What level of uplift might apply?
- What claims will it apply to?
- Will it be implemented via a code of practice? And if so, how will the new code of practice be drafted?
- How will such a ‘policy’ be drafted that it is meaningful for a range of businesses.
- What will the focus of the uplift be- will it be the breaches of the proposed code of practice or of any internal policy put in place by the employer in light of it?
As always, we await further information on this so it’s a bit of a watch this space situation (when is it not in employment?). We will of course be sure to keep you updated on this.
What this should start getting you to think about is whether you as the employer are putting any particular pressure on your employees to be contactable outside their usual hours and if so whether this is written within their contract at all. This is a key point and must be always borne in mind. Whilst there might be an expectation for employees to work “such additional hours as are reasonably required for the proper performance of their duties”, you don’t want to be putting excessive pressure on them (whether that is inside or outside of working hours). Going too far could jeopardise the working relationship and at worst could lead to claims for constructive dismissal or some sort of disability discrimination claim if the employee says the pressure affects their mental health. Setting expectations early on in the employment relationship is absolutely going to help with that.
Should Labour’s plans come into fruition, and you don’t have your ducks in a row, then you could be opening yourself up to higher compensation claims.
If you have any questions on any of the above, or generally then you know what to do- give us a shout.
And lastly lastly lastly, keep your eyes peeled for details of our HR and Employment Law update coming up in October. We’ll be running through topics just like this one (by which point we should hopefully have more detail!). SIGN UP HERE
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