HR Articles

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has been billed a staggering £87.9 million by HMRC for failing to correctly determine the tax status of its contractors.

So called “Freedom Day” was justified by the government in part because of the huge success of the vaccine roll-out in England.

How much reliance can employers put on vaccination status when planning a safe return to the physical workplace?

Clarkslegal Employment Associate, Deborah Scales, comments in The Sun on whether employers can stop employees taking foreign holidays.

The Government have released a list of 16 ‘critical’ sectors in which workers who are fully vaccinated will not need to self-isolate if they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace or notified by the NHS app.  

The Government has published its consultation response on workplace sexual harassment and harassment by third parties.  The consultation was undertaken in response to the #metoo movement, which revealed that many people (mainly women) experienced sexual harassment at work despite this having been unlawful for decades.  

The UK Government has made it clear that the way out of the COVID-19 pandemic is through vaccinations. As of the date of this article, 2/3 of the UK population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

From the 19th July, the Government has decided that all legal restrictions, which have  underpinned England’s public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic, will lapse. 

Over the course of the last couple of months, more organisations have decided that there will be no return to the pre-covid, place-based working environment. Some of these have declared for full remote working, but the majority appear to be considering a hybrid work environment, combining remote and place-based work in a number of different ways.

Many employers are currently grappling with how to implement hybrid-working. How does the duty to make reasonable adjustments fit into this new landscape? 

Staff at dating App giant Bumble have been offered paid time off to tackle collective burnout in the organisation. This follows a similar move by LinkedIn who also offered its employees a week off in April this year, following a survey which revealed burnout amongst staff.