Welcome to Employment Edit, our regular update of the key employment law developments from the last couple of weeks:
- The Department for Work and Pensions has announced that the new Health and Work Service will be launched in late 2014. A phased roll-out is planned with full implementation expected by the end of May 2015. The service is designed to help employees on sick leave return to work by providing them with an occupational health assessment after 4 weeks' sickness absence. Employees will normally be referred to the service by their GPs and a return to work plan will be produced and shared with their employer.
- The draft Shared Parental Leave Regulations have now been laid before Parliament and are expected to come into force on 1 December 2014, not 1 October 2014 as was originally stated. Whilst this gives employers a little more time to get a policy sorted out, any newly pregnant employees will now be entitled to take SPL (subject to meeting eligibility criteria) so are likely to want to understand these new rights before December.
- The Court of Appeal in McMillan v Airedale NHS Foundation Trust [2014] EWCA Civ 1031 has decided that an employer cannot impose a more severe disciplinary penalty on an employee following an appeal unless the disciplinary procedure includes an express right to do so. Read more about disciplinary penalties following internal appeals in our briefing.
If you would like more information, or specific advice, please contact Roger Bull or get in touch with your usual Burges Salmon contact.