• A fresh start for the New Year - Are your employment documents in order?
• Key Employment Law dates for 2018
• No males need apply for role at pizza restaurant
• GDPR: What you really need to know
• BakerLaw Employment Law events and newsletters

A fresh start for the New Year – Are your employment documents in order?

New Year’s resolutions often come in the form of saving money, regaining health or weight loss, but how often do you think about resolutions for your business? 

Following best practice or ensuring you have the benefit of well-drafted contracts and policies will reduce the possibility of successful legal claims being brought against you. It is a legal requirement to provide new employees with at least a Written Statement of Particulars of Employment, which is a very basic document, within two months of their start date.

An Employment Contract, a more detailed and tailored document, can offer greater protection to your business. In addition to containing the rules by which employees should abide, they can allow an employer to limit and prevent employees competing after their employment ends. In the absence of such a Contract, basic laws which offer limited protection to employers and can favour employees will apply.

In addition to Employment Contracts, employers should consider the policies and procedures they have in place. Such documents will ensure that the appropriate rules are followed and should help in the event of a dispute.

At BakerLaw we are experts in drafting bespoke Employment Contracts, policies and procedures tailored to your business and straightforward to use.

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact a member of the Employment Department.

Key Employment Law dates for 2018
A summary of the key changes and developments expected in 2018 is below:

No males need apply for role at pizza restaurant

A pizza restaurant, based in Ireland, has recently come under criticism for posting a job advert which specifies that the applicants should be female and requiring a photo.

The manager who posted the job advert explained the reason for the gender specific advert by saying: “It’ll be kind of a person representative of our business, going between offices, hospitals, schools and the position will be particularly suited for a girl. I don’t want to waste anybody’s time when they come over for interview. That’s why there was a question about the picture".

By limiting a job advertisement to a specific gender there is a real risk of direct discrimination based on a person’s sex.

The ACAS guidance ‘Sex discrimination: key points for the workplace’ states that you should “be careful when writing an advertisement, job description and person specification for a vacancy. Stay clear of any reference to a particular sex, including in job titles – for example, avoid terms such as waitress and tradesman.”

There is a defence to a direct and indirect discrimination claim where there is a genuine occupational requirement for a person of a specific gender. To be a genuine occupational requirement, the ACAS guidance sets out that the requirement must be:

• crucial to the post;
• relate to the nature of the job; and
• be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

GDPR: What you really need to know

1.  The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25th May 2018.
    
2. GDPR regulates the use of personal data.
    
3.  In order to comply with the GDPR, employers will need to update Employment Contracts and policies.
    
4. Employers should review policies and privacy notices to explicitly state why they are processing data.
    
5. Employees have the right to be totally forgotten. This means that all employees have the right to have data erased and to restrict or object to data being processed. Employers will need the means and a process in place for such rights to be adhered to.
    
6. Explicit, freely given, specific and informed consent is necessary before processing any personal data. You cannot rely on blanket consent within an Employment Contract. 
    
7. In the event of a personal data breach, employers will need to inform the regulator within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach unless they demonstrate that it would be unlikely to cause a risk to the persons’ rights and freedoms.
    
8. Employers can no longer charge up to £10 for a data subject access request. Under GDPR it will be free unless the request is “manifestly unfounded or excessive”.
    
9. The time to respond to data subject access requests has been reduced from 40 days from receipt of request to one month.
    
10. The penalty for a breach of the GDPR has an upper limit of €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover- whichever is higher.

We are able to offer a comprehensive review of your Employment Contracts, policies and procedures as well as offering general advice to ensure you are GDPR ready. 

If you would like to find out more about GDPR, we are hosting a breakfast seminar, together with cyber security specialists, ThinkMarble on 20th February 2018. Places are limited.

BakerLaw Employment Law News and Events 2018

• 20 February 2018 - BakerLaw and ThinkMarble GDPR Breakfast Seminar - Limited tickets still available : Click here to register.
• April 2018 - BakerLaw LLP Employment Newsletter Spring Edition.
• July 2018 - BakerLaw LLP Employment Newsletter Summer Edition.
• October 2018 - BakerLaw LLP Employment Newsletter Autumn Edition.