Equality Act 2010 implemented on 1st October

This month has seen the introduction of the Equality Act 2010, although much of the act restates the existing law, it also contains significant amendments to current discrimination law as well as introducing several new provisions, for example, the prohibition on pre-employment health enquiries and questionnaires by employers.

Employers should therefore be reviewing their policies, if this hasn’t already been done i.e. equal opportunities policy and review procedures i.e. recruitment procedures or sickness absence procedures to ensure that they comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.  

It is also recommended that Managers of staff are kept up-to-date with these changes.

The key employment provisions include:

1. Further extending the protection of third party harassment to all protected characteristics (Section 40 Equality Act 2010).
   
   Under current discrimination law only employees who have been harassed by a third party (for example, a customer or client) on the grounds of their sex can bring a claim against their employer.  Under the new Equality Act this protection is extended to all discrimination claims which includes sex, race, disability, age, religion or belief, gender re-assignment, marriage/civil partnership and sexual orientation.
2. Protection for people discriminated against because they are perceived to have, or are associated with someone who has, a protected characteristic (Section 13 Equality Act 2010).
   
   This part of the act prohibits discrimination because they are perceived for example, to be gay or because they are associated with, for example, a disabled person.
3. Preventing employers asking job applicants questions about disability or health before making a job offer (Section 60 Equality Act 2010).
   
   Employers should not ask job applicant's about their health, or ask them to complete a health questionnaire, unless certain specific exceptions apply, including whether the applicant can carry out a particular function "intrinsic to the job.
4. Making pay secrecy clauses unenforceable (Section 77 Equality Act 2010).
   
   Any clauses in an employees’ contract of employment, which prohibits them from discussing their pay with other employees will be unenforceable.   In addition a new protection has been introduced for employees, that states that employees who are disciplined for discussing their pay can bring a victimisation claim against their employer (Section 77(4) Equality Act 2010).
5. The introduction of the new concept of "discrimination arising from disability" (Section 15 Equality Act 2010).
   
   This new disability discrimination claim removes the requirement of a comparator. Therefore employers will no longer be able to defend a dismissal for disability related sickness absence on the grounds that a non disabled employee with the same level of sickness absence would have also been dismissed.
6. The introduction of new powers for Employment Tribunals to make recommendations which benefit the wider workforce (Section 124 Equality Act 2010).
   
   If an employee currently wins a discrimination claim an Employment Tribunal can only make recommendations to the employer if the employee is still employed by them. Under the new Equality Act, Tribunals will have the powers to make recommendations to an employer even if the employee has left. i.e. requiring a manager to attend equal opportunities training.

Further provisions are still being considered by the Government and we will keep you informed.

Security of information

Laptops and memory sticks are accepted as ordinary tools of business, but when it is important to managing the security of a Company’s information these tools become a great risk.

It is important that Directors consider the following points:

• Monitoring who has access to what data within your business
• The implementation of restricted access to certain levels of seniority within the business
• Who manages the passwords and permissions and who they are accountable to.
• Whether you have the latest security updates on your IT systems?
• What systems/ procedures to you have in place to stop employees downloading company data onto memory sticks and other mobile devices? 
• Their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act.   

Other questions that you might want to consider, which will help your decisions regarding the systems you put in place:

• How much you can trust employees, you may not know all of them.
• Consider ex-employees (who may be harbouring a grudge) and access rights they had.
• Do you have a documented list of who has access to particular pieces of data within your organisation
• What the effects would be if a memory stick or other mobile devices were lost or stolen, if they contained company data?

Directives should be given to IT staff allowing them to build structures giving the relevant permissions to the relevant users and ensuring that the latest security updates are uploaded. 

If you don’t have your our IT, let us know and we can refer you to a colleague who can help.

Also, if you require assistance with relevant policies for e-mail, Internet and or Social media, this is an area we can help you with.

Call today: Black Dog HR Consultancy Tel: 01280 817341 or Mob: 07976 093549 

Millions of Company drivers are risking lives through driving whilst tired

Recent research carried out by Brake and Direct Line, shows the vast majority of drivers questioned admitted driving whilst tired, and admitted that they didn’t know what to do to tackle sleepiness at the wheel. 

The survey found that one in ten drivers said that they had driven whilst tired in the last week.

It is estimated that one in five fatal crashes on trunk roads are caused by tired drivers – the figure could be higher, but it is something that is difficult to prove.  Most high-speed crashes tend to be due to a driver falling asleep, the tell-tail signs are that the drivers do not brake crashing, consequently the risk of death or serious injury is much greater.

The Government advises breaks every two hours on long journeys.

If drivers do feel tired behind the wheel, they are advised to stop in a safe places as soon as possible, drink caffeine, and then take a short power nap – or find somewhere to stay overnight and get a good night’s sleep. All other methods are unproven.

Other methods that drivers have claimed to use:

• Open a window whilst driving - 70%
• Listen to the radio or a CD - 54%
• Go for a short walk during rest breaks - 39%
• Splash water onto their faces - 29%

These methods are all unproven and are not recommended.  If you are trying to put off sleep, puts the driver at risk of “microsleeps”.  These last for between 2 – 30 seconds without remembering them.  A driver travelling at 70 mph will travel 200m in 6 seconds, if he/she is asleep this could be fatal.

Advice before a long journey is to:

• Get plenty of sleep before the journey
• Plan adequate break times during the journey (at least 15 mins every 2 hours)
• If you feel tired before the journey do not drive
• If you feel tired whilst driving stop and have a break

Brake – a road safety charity is calling on the Government to:

• Make traffic policing a national policing priority, and ensure there are more patrols to spot and stop weaving vehicles driven by tired drivers.
• Introduce regular testing of drivers, particularly people who drive for work, for sleep apnoea, a medical condition that makes falling asleep at the wheel much more likely.
• Introduce better and longer safety barriers to minimise the consequences of crashes caused by tired drivers on motorway and trunk roads.
• Conduct an audit of rest areas on motorways and trunk roads, to ensure they provide adequate provision for our road network, enabling drivers to always find somewhere to stop and rest.
• Extend rules controlling hours that can be driven legally by large vehicle drivers to fleet drivers in vans and cars, and encourage companies to use trains more instead of cars for long distance journeys.

Under the Corporate Manslaugher Act, employers have a Duty of Care to ensure the safety of their employees driving for work purposes.  The revised legislation makes it easier to prosecute large and medium sized organisations for manslaughter following a work related death.

If you require the provision of a Driving at Work Policy please contact us: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 01280 817341

How frequently should Companies be checking DRIVING LICENCES?                             

According to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), companies should be checking licences at least annually and more frequently where appropriate. If a company asks an employee to drive on their behalf, they have a legal responsibility to ensure that they are licensed to do so.

Manual checks are good, but not every manager is able to read all the entitlements and endorsement codes on a licence and understand their implications?

Checking with the DVLA is quick and simple. The driver is asked to sign a mandate form once every three years. The information you will receive will provide the same information listed on the paper copy, but it will be up-to-date and 100% accurate.

If a situation arose and you needed an instant check, you can call the DVLA on 09061 393 837 (49p/min). It's a bit onerous as you need the driver to be there with you to answer some security questions and give the DVLA their permission to tell you the licence details, but at least you know whether it is safe to let the driver out.  This can be very useful if a new driver arrives for work and forgets to bring his driving licence with him/her.

Many unlicenced drivers are not aware that they are unlicenced and will only be too pleased to know.

Arrange your chair practitioner

Invite Unwind to carry out-group personnel chair massages you will receive a free classic chair massage.

Let us arrange your relaxation day for your staff/colleagues, you inform them of the treat you have lined up. Give them the incentive to improve your business by arranging a relaxation schedule within the work place.                                       

For fast acting relief call 'Unwind Milton Keynes'.

CORPORATE PACKAGES.

1-hour - £50.00 - 5 personnel.

2 hours - £100 - 10 personnel.

3-hours - £150 - 15 personnel.  

4-hours - £200- 20 personnel.           

5-hours -£250 - 25 personnel

6-hours - £300 - 30 personnel.

7-hours - £350 - 35 personnel.

The Governments Health & Safety Review – Part 2

More information has now been released on the review by Lord Young (the conservative peer tasked with looking at H&S) as it seems he has been concentrating on H&S Consultants.

Whilst all professions have good and bad professionals in them Lord Young believes that there are those in the H&S profession who practice with little qualification and less experience.  Having seen construction site cleaner made into Safety Officers overnight and mushroom farmers named as advisors I can see his point.

To combat this it is proposed to establish a national register of competent professionals which will allow companies to select an advisor who has the required qualifications and experience.  This is expected to be operational in early 2011.

If you need help in the meantime look for a consultant who holds chartered status with the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health as that will be the standard required for inclusion on the national register.

Whilst this will not prevent bad professionals from working it will give companies the ability to choose from a selection of good ones.

If you require any assistance with any Health and Safety issues please contact either Rialto Health & Safety or Black Dog HR and we will be only too pleased to help. 

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it       or     This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
01933 666990                           01280 817341

Special Points of Interest

Equal pay 57 years away

New figures released by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), detail the rates at which male and female salaries are increasing and suggest that UK businesses are still more than five decades away from paying men and women equally.  With the average UK salary for a male manager currently £10,071 more than that of a female manager, women could face a 57-year wait before their take-home pay is equal to that of their male colleagues.

Employers must take steps to protect staff from violence

A care worker who was attacked by a patient has been awarded £12,500 in compensation after it was found that her employer, Swan House care home, had failed to assess the risks or provide training on dealing with aggression.

Ms Hunt, from Winslow, in Buckinghamshire, was held in a headlock and punched by elderly patient, Jack Tooby, in September 2005.

Jobcentre Plus bans ads recruiting sex workers

Job adverts for sex industry workers are to be banned from job centres, the government has announced.

The restriction, which takes immediate effect, will cover adverts for lap dancers and strippers. Other roles that exist in the sector such as retail and cleaning jobs in sex shops or adult entertainment venues, will not be barred.

Unpaid internships branded ‘illegal’

Employers taking on unpaid interns are “almost certainly breaking the law”, according to a report from the Institute for Public Policy research (IPPR) think tank.

Research from IPPR and campaign group Internocracy found that employers assume that unpaid internships are legal as long as both sides know it is a voluntary position. 

They state that internships most certainly could not be described as work experience. 

Prospects for older workers better in this recession

Labour market prospects for older workers today are much better than in previous recessions.  Analysts had to go back to the 1970s and 1980s and consider older men, who frequently found their skills becoming obsolete.

Comparing the current downturn with the recession in the early 1990s, no major differences were found in the experiences of older and younger workers.