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3 Areas Of Employment Law
Business Owners Need To Be Aware Of
Dear
If your business has employees, then you need to understand employment law. That’s really as simple as it gets. As a business owner employing people, it’s your duty to understand what rights you have, what rights your employees have, and what laws you need to follow to ensure everyone is happy, healthy and kept out of legal trouble. But for many employers, there are areas of employment law that get missed. Today, we wanted to be able to share with you 3 key areas of employment law, and what they mean for your business.
Protecting The Interests Of The Business
As well as protecting the interests of employees, businesses also need to think about protecting their own interests. This is something that is covered within employment law, and typically covers areas like confidentiality, client connections, , suppliers and intellectual property. This means that any relevant provisions should be included in employment contracts. Depending on the circumstances it may, in certain cases, for example, be appropriate to include clauses preventing employees for a certain period on leaving from competing, soliciting or dealing with clients, suppliers or poaching staff. Any post-termination restriction must, however, go no further than is reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the business and each case will be different as if its too onerous it will be void and unenforceable.
Unfair Dismissal
Unfair dismissal is one of those grey areas of employment law – one that often depends on the circumstances to determine whether or not the dismissal actually was unfair. But there are still come overarching rules. For example, an employee must have at least 2 years’ service in order to bring an unfair dismissal claim, so employers do have more leeway to dismiss a difficult employee before that time – they would just need to provide notice. But there are some claims that employees could bring without any continuous service requirement, such as whistleblowing or discrimination, so you need to be aware of the nuances. This is where having an employment law retainer like ours can be very handy, and you can seek advice prior to dismissing someone.
Personal Data
Thanks to the implementation of GDPR (which has now been around for over a year), most people are aware of the implications of misusing employee data. But a startling number of businesses are still unaware of their obligations of GDPR, so we wanted to remind you. One of the major areas you need to know about is that personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner – which includes employers being required to provide detailed information to their employees about the processing of their personal data.
Always Stay On The Right Side!
Of course, handling new changes to employment law can be tricky, especially if you’re running a small HR department. If you’re having issues with staff, policies or procedures, particularly around keeping up with employment legislation, or just struggling to understand what you need to do to be compliant, it doesn’t hurt to get a little help and advice from the employment law experts. At Herefords, we offer hands-on, practical advice and guidance around all elements of employment law. Our service is all about guiding you through the minefield, helping you to understand the law and how it applies to your business, including any new changes that come in. And thanks to our new Employment Law Retainer, you can be confident that your key HR decisions and advice are compliant and appropriate. You can find out more about our employment law retainer by clicking here.
Or for more information on handling issues in the workplace, you can get in touch with us and book your free consultation.
Best,
Zahir Mohammed
Employment Solicitor
0203 669 2216
