An article said that the 'justification' defence in statutory indirect discrimination cases should incorporate proportionality as applied by the European Court of Human Rights. An evaluation of United Kingdom practice showed that judges did not apply the rigorous scrutiny required by either the European Court of Human Rights or the European Court of Justice.
Source: Aaron Baker, 'Proportionality and employment discrimination in the UK', Industrial Law Journal, Volume 37 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Dec
The Employment Bill was given a third reading, and the Act was given Royal assent. New penalties would be introduced for businesses not paying workers the minimum wage, and for agencies which tried to exploit workers and undercut legitimate businesses. Changes to the dispute resolution system would lighten the regulatory burden on business, and encourage more workplace disputes to be resolved earlier and informally.
Source: Employment Act 2008, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 4 November 2008, columns 151-226, TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Hansard | DBERR press release | PCS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Nov
A report examined early implementation of pilots designed to help tackle the problems faced by vulnerable workers. The most common problems related to pay issues, such as employers withholding wages and sick pay. Some employers were found to actively confuse workers as to what benefits they were entitled to, or even give them false information or make changes to their contracts. Vulnerable workers seeking advice from the pilots were often found to have several employment issues, even if they only initially asked for help in relation to one. Fear was a major barrier to vulnerable workers being able to enforce their rights.
Source: Liz Griffin, Evaluation of the Vulnerable Worker Pilots: Interim Report, Employment Relations Research Series 98, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Oct
A report said that as many as 1 in 10 of all successful claimants at an employment tribunal did not receive their monetary award. Rogue employers were exploiting the fact that tribunals had no powers to enforce the awards made.
Source: Richard Dunstan, Justice Denied: The deliberate non-payment of employment tribunal awards by rogue employers, Citizens Advice (020 7833 2181)
Links: Report | Citizens Advice press release
Date: 2008-Oct
A report described a project that involved the collection of data from Citizens Advice Bureau clients and advisers on a range of factors associated with worker vulnerability, in order to develop an evidence base.
Source: Derek Mitchell, Citizens Advice Client Research: Final report, Employment Relations Research Series 99, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Oct
The European Parliament approved the Agency Workers Directive, giving temporary workers in the United Kingdom equal rights to those of permanent staff after 12 weeks with an employer.
Source: Press release 22 October 2008, European Parliament (press-EN@europarl.europa.eu)
Links: EP press release | EC press release | TUC press release | UNISON press release | REC press release | Personnel Today report | People Management report
Date: 2008-Oct
A trade union report said that female migrant workers might be more likely than any other group to be paid less than the national minimum wage.
Source: Hiranthi Jayaweera and Bridget Anderson, Migrant Workers and Vulnerable Employment: A review of existing data, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | Oxford University press release | Personnel Today report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Aug
The report of an official advisory group called for a sustained government-led campaign to raise vulnerable workers' awareness of basic employment rights, and to encourage the reporting of workplace abuses. It also called for the creation of a Fair Employment Enforcement Board to drive forward improvements in the enforcement system.
Source: Vulnerable Worker Enforcement Forum: Final Report and Government Conclusions, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report | Citizens Advice press release | CBI press release | Shelter press release
Date: 2008-Aug
A survey of employment advisers from citizens advice bureaux and law centres highlighted the extent of the problems that vulnerable workers faced. 79 per cent of advisers received frequent reports of unfair dismissal; 67 per cent received frequent reports of problems with pay; and 60 per cent regularly dealt with problems with working time/contractual rights.
Source: Anna Pollert, Andy Danford, Stephanie Tailby, Nick Wilton and Stella Warren, Survey of Employment Rights Advisers from Citizens Advice Bureaux and Law Centres, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | UWE press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Aug
A paper summarized the results of a survey of low-paid, non-unionized workers. Almost half of those contacted reported experiencing a problem at work in the previous three years, suggesting that problems at work were widespread in the British workforce.
Source: Anna Pollert and Andy Charlwood, The Unorganised Worker: Problems at work, routes to support and views on representation – The Unrepresented Worker Survey 2004, Working Paper 11, Centre for Employment Studies Research/University of the West of England (0117 328 3478)
Links: Paper
Date: 2008-Aug
A joint statement was agreed by government, trade unions, business, and the third sector, aimed at improving the quality of services delivered under government contracts by raising the skills of employees working on them. Workers would be given an opportunity to develop their basic skills where needed; and would get access to information regarding their working lives, including the benefits of joining a trade union.
Source: Joint Statement on Access to Skills, Trade Unions and Advice in Government Contracting, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Statement | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | Personnel Today report | FT report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jul
The Employment Bill was given a second reading. New penalties would be introduced for businesses not paying workers the minimum wage, and for agencies which tried to exploit workers and undercut legitimate businesses. Changes to the dispute resolution system would lighten the regulatory burden on business, and encourage more workplace disputes to be resolved earlier and informally.
Source: Employment Bill [HL], Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 14 July 2008, columns 39-104, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | HOC research brief | Citizens Advice press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A study found that in 2007 workplace bullying cost society approximately £682.5 million; and that work-related stress cost approximately £4.55 billion.
Source: Sabir Giga, Helge Hoel and Duncan Lewis, The Costs of Workplace Bullying, Dignity at Work Partnership (Unite and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) (0845 850 4242)
Links: Report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report highlighted the 'extreme vulnerability' of migrant domestic workers: some were sexually and physically abused by their employers, and many were exploited and badly treated.
Source: Vanina Wittenburg with Nivedita Niyogi and Kate Roberts, The New Bonded Labour?, Oxfam GB (01865 313184)
Links: Report | Oxfam press release
Date: 2008-Jul
The government announced that an agreement on the rights of agency workers, reached in May 2008 between the government, trade unions, and employers, had been approved by the European Union Employment Council. (The agreement gave agency workers equal rights in some areas to permanent staff after 12 weeks of employment.)
Source: Press release 10 June 2008, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (020 7215 5000)
Links: DBERR press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | REC press release | CIPD press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Jun
A trade union report said that 2 million workers were 'trapped in a continual round of low-paid and insecure work where mistreatment was the norm'. Vulnerable workers suffered because they did not know their rights, lacked an escape route from vulnerable jobs, could not get their rights enforced – and often suffered when they did try to – and fell through gaps in employment law. The report called for the creation of a new Fair Employment Commission (involving employers, unions, and civil society groups) to co-ordinate the work of enforcement agencies, monitor awareness of employment rights, and make recommendations to government.
Source: Commission on Vulnerable Employment, Hard Work, Hidden Lives, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release (1) | TUC press release (2) | TUC press release (3) | UNISON press release | CBI press release | REC press release | Green Party press release | Refugee Council press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Personnel Today report | Socialist Worker report
Date: 2008-May
The government said (in the draft Queen's Speech) that it would seek to tackle the unfair treatment of agency workers. It would pursue an agreement on the treatment of agency workers through an European Union Directive incorporating the principle of equal treatment. A tripartite agreement was subsequently reached between the government, unions, and employers that would give agency workers equal treatment after 12 weeks' employment.
Source: Preparing Britain for the Future: The government's draft legislative programme, Cm 7372, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 20 May 2008, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (020 7215 5000)
Links: Draft Queens Speech | Amendments | Hansard | DBERR press release | TUC press release (1) | TUC press release (2) | UNISON press release | CBI press release (1) | CBI press release (2) | FSB press release | CIPD press release | REC press release (1) | REC press release (2) | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | FT report | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report (1) | Personnel Today report (2) | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-May
A report said that agency workers were paid significantly less than directly employed staff, and had much lower levels of job quality. After controlling for a wide range of range of factors that affected wages, agency pay was 10 per cent lower per hour: the gap was 12 per cent for men and 6 per cent for women. There were 250,000 agency workers in total – in contrast to the 1.4 million figure claimed by the recruitment industry, and used to suggest that regulation of the sector could cost a quarter of a million jobs.
Source: Gary Slater, Chris Forde and Francis Green, Agency Working in the UK: What Do We Know?, Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change/University of Leeds (0113 343 6851)
Links: Report | Leeds University press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-May
A new book examined the extent to which religious interests were protected in the workplace, with particular reference to the protection against religious discrimination provided by the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003.
Source: Lucy Vickers, Religious Freedom, Religious Discrimination and the Workplace, Hart Publishing (01865 517530)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Apr
The government published a compendium of all the impact assessments on employment relations policy produced in 2007.
Source: 2007 Compendium of Impact Assessments, Employment Relations Research Series 79, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Mar
A new book said that labour law needed to evolve in order to continue protecting workers as the variety of available working arrangements increased. Employment policies were still grounded in narrow conceptions of labour market flexibility that put flexible workers, including many women, at a continued disadvantage.
Source: Deirdre McCann, Regulating Flexible Work, Oxford University Press (01536 741727)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Mar
The Court of Appeal ruled that an agency worker could not sue for unfair dismissal by the employer which hired the agency concerned. However, it said that the issue of who the employer of an agency worker was depended on the facts in each case.
Source: James v London Borough of Greenwich, Court of Appeal 5 February 2008
Links: Text of judgement | REC press release | Personnel Todayreport | FT report
Date: 2008-Feb
A private member's Bill was published (following its first reading in December 2007), aimed at providing agency workers with the same rights as other workers. The Bill was given a second reading, despite the withholding of government support.
Source: Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill, Andrew Miller MP, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 22 February 2008, columns 663-724, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Hansard(second reading) | HOC research brief | TUC press release | PCS press release | CBI press release | REC press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report | FT report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Feb
A study examined the adverse treatment experienced by vulnerable workers, how it affected their well-being, and what action workers took (or did not take) to resolve their employment problems.
Source: Richard Dunstan and Doug Anderson, Vulnerable Workers: Preliminary findings from the Citizens Advice client research, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Feb