8 January 2007

2006 proved to be an eventful year for HR professionals. Will the New Year be more of the same? Here we have highlighted 6 key developments coming in 2007 to help you plan and prepare so you don’t have to muddle through the next 12 months.

1. Flexible working rights extended

The Flexible Working (Eligibility, Complaints and Remedies) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 will come into force on 6 April 2007. The regulations extend the statutory right to request a change in an employee’s number of hours, times or place of work, to those who care for an adult. To be eligible the employee must have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service and have responsibility to care for one of the following:

• a spouse, partner or civil partner
• a guardian or relative (including relationships of full or half blood or acquired through marriage or adoption)
• an adult living at the same address

Employers and employees will need to follow the same prescribed procedure for making and considering requests as currently apply to parents of young or disabled children.

2. More scope for consultation

There are no statutory stipulations of what must be covered in a pre-existing agreement, which can be entered into at any time before a request is made. Once a request is made the employer may reach consensus for a negotiated agreement offering greater flexibility to agree the terms of the arrangement. However, if no agreement is reached within 6 months, the employer will have a further 6 months to implement the standard provisions or face a penalty of up to £75, 000.

The standard provisions will require the employer to:

• inform on the recent and probable development of the undertaking's activities and economic situation
• inform and consult on the situation, structure and probable development of employment within the undertaking and on any anticipatory measure envisaged, especially where there is a threat to employment and
• inform and consult on decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation or in contractual relations

3. A breath of fresh air

The smoking ban under the Health Act (2006) will come into force on 1 July 2007. Smoking will be prohibited in all enclosed premises, including offices, factories, shops, pubs, bars and restaurants. Employers must display "no smoking signs" in their premises and will no longer be permitted to allow smoking in work vehicles used by more than one person or provide smoking rooms.

4. Making holiday plans

Watch this space for news on the case of HM Revenue and Customs v Stringer and others (formerly Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Ainsworth). The case has been referred to the ECJ following the Court of Appeal’s decision, that workers on long term sick leave are not entitled to receive holiday pay or bring a claim for deduction of wages, for statutory holiday under the Working Time Directive.

The ECJ have been asked to rule on whether or not a worker on sick leave can designate a period and take it as paid holiday and, in the event of termination, how any pay in lieu is to be calculated for a worker who is absent for all or part of the holiday year.

5. A year for equality

This year is the European Year of Equal Opportunity and in the UK will be marked by the setting up of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights in October. The new single commission will replace but retain the powers of the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission and have new powers to enforce legislation more effectively and promote equality for all. Not least of all by enforcing the new Gender Equality Duty, which will have come into force 6 months earlier, for all public authorities and other organisations who deliver public services or act as suppliers to public organisations.

6. Manslaughter

New laws to encourage health and safety in the workplace are expected during 2007. The Bill proposes to introduce a new offence of corporate manslaughter which would result in an unlimited fine against the Company. Corporate manslaughter will occur where death has been caused by a management failure of the organisation to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or others.

It’s important to look ahead but don’t forget the all-important Spring clean. You mustn’t let the dust settle on your existing policies and procedures. Keeping up with the old and the new can be perplexing, which is why a subscription to Buddy makes perfect sense. For an annual fee of £365 + VAT you can have access to a whole range of practical guidance including HR policies. With the maximum compensation award for unfair dismissal increasing to £60,600 from the 1st February 2007, can you afford to miss a cobweb?