In for the summer!
The school holidays have started and right on cue came some of the worst weather Britain has ever seen. If the rain continues the kids will be staying in this summer! Schools aren’t the only thing to have shut their doors last week; the Parliamentary session also came to a close. So while MPs are out, what did they vote in for employers?
Possibly the most significant bill to be passed is the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill, not least of all because it was touch and go whether it would actually make it through the session! The House of Lords and House of Commons fought for weeks over the extension of the Bill to include death in custody but at the eleventh hour the Commons admitted defeat and the Bill was given Royal Ascent.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 will now come into force on 6th April 2008. It creates a new offence of corporate manslaughter (or corporate homicide in Scotland) where death has been caused by a gross breach of a relevant duty of care to that person. This covers an employer’s duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of employees and others affected by its activities. The penalty on prosecution will be an unlimited fine. However, directors will not be held personally liable as the offence only applies to companies and other corporate bodies, in both the public and private sector. This includes Crown bodies such as the prisons and police authorities who could be prosecuted over deaths of people held in custody. To be found guilty of the offence the way in which the organisation’s activities are managed or organised by its senior management team must have had a substantial bearing on the breach of duty and the conduct amounting to that breach must fall far below what was reasonably expected of the organisation in the circumstances.
Other employment legislation to be given the green light include the:
- The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007 which will increase the minimum statutory holiday entitlement from 4 weeks to 4.8 weeks on 1st October 2007 and to 5.6 weeks from 1st April 2009. Employers can easily calculate the amount of the additional holiday due for workers who are part way through the holiday year by using the ready reckoner available on www.berr.gov.uk. For a transitional period only, employers will be permitted to make a payment in lieu of the additional holiday entitlement. Further guidance of these changes is available to Buddy subscribers via the Knowledge Bank.
- The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (Amendment) Regulations 2007. These regulations became effective immediately on 17 July 2007 and amend the special rules that apply for students under the age 26. The regulations now make it clear that the provisions apply to students who are "undertaking" rather than simply "attending" a course of higher education which requires them to undertake a period of work experience, so as to include students doing correspondence courses etc. As long as the placement is for a maximum period of a year such students need not be paid the minimum wage for the work that they do while with the employer. The regulations also extend the provision to students who are 26 or over undertaking further education which requires a period of work experience.
Finally, employers experiencing employment tribunal proceedings could see some changes following the passing of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, which should make tribunal awards and ACAS-facilitated compromise agreements easier to enforce. However the most notable difference is Tribunal Chairmen are out and Employment Judges are in!