October - HR Review

Business issues warning following sick leave ruling
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that a recent landmark ruling on sick leave by the European Court of Justice could leave employers open to abuse by unscrupulous staff.
The ruling means that employees who suffer illness while on annual leave could be entitled to reclassify their time off as sick leave, and be granted annual leave for a different period.
The CBI said, 'Many firms already take a common-sense and sympathetic approach. But allowing employees to reclassify their holiday as sick leave opens the door to abuse'.
Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) warned that the ruling could force employers to abandon occupational sick pay schemes, in favour of statutory schemes.
The CBI is calling for employers to be given the right to ask for a medical certificate, should the ruling become law.

Fathers to be given new paternity rights
Fathers will gain the right to take six months' paternity leave under new plans announced by the Government.
The proposals will see parents afforded the right to share a year of parental leave to care for their newborn child, with fathers allowed to take six months off after the mother's first six months of leave.
The changes will take effect for parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011.

Corporate Prisoners
The economic crisis has resulted in many employees staying at organisations they would rather leave, according to a new report that also states that this will damage productivity and morale, and in general is bad for the overall business.
The report outlines six different categories of ?prisoners?, which includes ?the escaper? (20% of employees fall into this category) who is planning to leave soon to move to another job, ?the visiting star? who is just at an organisation to ride out the economic storm and ?the economic prisoner?, who is staying at an organisation as a result of financial circumstances.
The report?s author comments: ?As organisations come out of recession, most will find an element of mismatch between the tasks they have to undertake to grow again and the talent they have to hand. They will have to face some very difficult decisions about their people. And so will those people whose careers are now going to have to take a new direction.
?Organisations? plans for recruitment, talent management and restructuring should be revisited now to ensure they release their corporate prisoners and attract the right people for the long term.?

More Holidays
The Courts have ruled that employees who have been on sick leave for a long period should be allowed to take accrued holiday on their return to work or be paid in lieu at their normal rate of pay if the employment relationship ends without them returning to work.
In addition, the Courts have also ruled that holiday pay counts as wages and, where it has not been paid, a claim can be brought for unlawful deduction from wages. This means that the time limit for claiming is extended from three months to six years.

Brits dipping into their savings to learn new skills
30% of people in the UK have self funded their own skills development to improve their job prospects or to make their current job more secure, according to new research.
Research from the recruitment processing outsourcing company discovered that those aged between 35 to 44 years old were most likely to pay themselves to learn new skills, with 38% of people in that age bracket willing to self fund their skills development. Regionally, workers in Scotland (36%) were most likely to fund their own learning and development.