Latest News From Complete Clarity Solicitors

New data from the National Office for Statistics Official (ONS) shows that between June and August 2015, Scotland has outperformed the UK in terms of employment, youth employment and youth employment with rates sitting at 73.7%, 61.5% and 71.5% respectively.

Not so encouragingly, Scotland’s unemployment rate has increased.

As many as 460,000 people could be ‘bogusly self-employed’ and as a result be missing out on valuable benefits, such as holiday pay, Citizens Advice has claimed.

According to new research from the Law Society of Scotland, female solicitors are working from free as of today due to the gender pay gap in the legal profession.

The UK Government has recently published details of proposed reforms to strike laws, which it says will fairly balance the right to strike with the right of people to be able to go about their daily lives and work.

According to a recent report from Acas, the first year of its Early Conciliation (EC) service has been a success, with the workplace body dealing with over 83,000 EC cases between April 2014 and March 2015.

A best practice protocol that aims to end age discrimination in recruitment has been launched by Age UK and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation to give older people a better chance of finding work.

A recent study by Nuffield Health shows approximately three million UK employee/workers experience problems with back pain and are, either, unable to work or are on long-term sick leave as a result.

Additionally and worryingly, somewhere in the region of six million individuals working in the UK have back pain that is undiagnosed.

The majority of employees in the United Kingdom now expect to work past the age of 65, if recent research from Canada Life Group Insurance is to be believed.

The survey found that approximately 61 per cent of UK employees expect to work beyond the ‘normal’ retirement.

UK Businesses that employ in excess of 250 people will be required to publish what they pay their male and female staff as well as the average difference between male and female pay, if a recent amendment to proposed legislation is approved by the House of Commons.

If as thought, the amendment is approved, the Secretary of State will be allowed a period of twelve months to implement the provision.

Agency workers are often unaware of their employment rights and are afraid of raising workplace concerns due to fears over job security, according to a new study by Acas.

According to a report recently published by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), in excess of 46,500 Scottish workers and or employers are ‘desperate’ and ‘miserable’ due to unfair working practices - an increase of 5.5% on the previous year.

With the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) having recently clarified the rules concerning the types of companions that workers can bring with them to grievance or disciplinary hearings, following a period of consultation, ACAS has now published a revised draft of the of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

The EAT judgement in  Toal and another -v- GB Oils, which caused ACAS to act, held that workers have the right to be accompanied anyone at Disciplinary and Grievance hearings, provided the accompanying individual falls into one of the categories, which are listed in section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999. Workers, therefore, have the right to be accompanied at such hearings by trade unions officials, certified union representatives and fellow workers.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) last week released a report, which suggested that attitudes held by employers must urgently be changed, with expectant mothers still being dismissed, bullied and sidelined.

The TUC report - called ‘The Pregnancy Test: Ending Discrimination at Work for New Mothers’ - said that what the law states on paper and what happens in reality are two different stories. TUC found that many pregnant women feel shunned as soon as they give their workplace the news that they are expecting.

Vince Cable, Business Secretary, has recently announced a new, wide-ranging employment review to help analyse the status of those on 'worker' employment contracts, who often hold fewer basic rights when compared to those on 'employee' contracts.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently ruled that European Law does not provide mothers with any maternity leave entitlement where a surrogate has carried and given birth to the child.  

The Government has announced new measures to toughen up the enforcement of the national minimum wage (NMW) by making it easier to name and shame employers who do not comply.

A delivery driver for a fruit and vegetable wholesaler has won his constructive dismissal claim at Bristol Employment Tribunal after he claimed he was forced to resign as the result of racial harassment, reports the Telegraph.

As part of its Review of Employment Law, the Government has recently published details of a package of reform measures, including a call for evidence over proposed reforms to the current whistleblowing laws.

The use of the Pre-claim Conciliation Service (PCC) from Acas has proved beneficial to both employers and employees in settling workplace disputes, according to independent studies commissioned by Acas.

The Government needs to do more to ensure workplace equality and to tackle female under-representation in certain sectors of the economy, claims a report from the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee.