Child Age Limit for Parental Leave increases to 18

Parental Leave is the right a parent may exercise to take unpaid leave from work.  Currently open to parents of children under the age of 5, from 5 April 2015 parents of children under the age of 18 and sufficient qualifying service will be eligible.

Time off for Adoption Appointments

The Children and Families Act 2013 will grant a new right to attend adoption appointments.  The primary adoptive parent will be permitted to take time off work to attend up to 5 appointments whilst the secondary adopter will be entitled to take time off for up to 2 appointments.

Statutory Adoption Leave

The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2014 introduce significant changes with regards to adoption leave and pay.  The removal of the 26 week qualifying period will bring adoption leave entitlement in line with Maternity leave.  Surrogate Parents will also become eligible for Adoption Leave.

Shared Parental Leave & Pay

Parents of children born or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015 will benefit from the introduction Shared Parental Leave.  The new regulations aim to give parents greater flexibility regarding caring for their child in its first year. 

Important changes to employing of non-UK workers visa requirements

The Tier 1 (general) visa route aimed at highly skilled workers, has been on its way out for a number of years.  Individuals who are living and working in the UK under an existing Tier 1 (general)  visa have continued to be able to extend their stay.

From 6 April 2015, individuals will no longer be able to apply for an extension of their Tier 1 visa.  Their existing visa will continue to give them the right to live and work in the UK, but on its expiry, the individual will have to look for another route to remain in the UK.

Individuals in the UK under a Tier 1 (general) visa may:
 

• Apply to extend their stay on or before 5 April 2015. An extension will be granted for the shorter term of 3 years or the balance of time needed for the individual to accrue 5 years in the UK, at which time they will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain;
• Apply for indefinite leave to remain if they have already accrued 5 years in the UK; or
• Switch to another, qualifying tier, subject to eligibility requirements.

If your company is going to be affected by this change you should consider thinking about alternative options now, to ensure that key members of staff continue to have the right to work in the UK and to avoid disruption to your business.

Offensive tweets on twitter resulted in employee being dismissed

In the case of Games Retail v Laws, Mr Laws was Game’s risk and loss prevention investigator. He opened a personal Twitter account and began following the stores for which he was responsible so that he could monitor inappropriate activity. Sixty-five Game stores subsequently followed Mr Laws, after one of its managers encouraged them to do so.

But it was Mr Laws himself who got into hot water for posting offensive tweets. He was dismissed but initially won his unfair dismissal claim. The dismissal was not within the band of reasonable responses, the tribunal said. The tweets had been posted using Mr Law’s own phone, outside working hours, and for private purposes. It hadn’t been established that any member of the public had access to Mr Law’s Twitter feed and had connected him with the company. Also relevant was the fact that Game’s disciplinary policy didn’t specifically say that use of social media in this way could be treated as gross misconduct.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) disagreed.  Mr Laws had not attempted to ensure that his tweets only went out to a private audience. He hadn’t set up two accounts (one personal, one professional), nor had he adjusted his settings to restrict his followers. And he was knowingly tweeting in the context of having some 65 of the Respondent's stores following his feed – and on the recommendation of a store manager. It therefore couldn’t be considered private usage.

A new tribunal will now decide the question of whether dismissal was within the band of reasonable responses.
The EAT steered away from issuing guidance on misuse of Twitter. Each case is different. But what we can say is that these are some of the important things to take into account: 

• what the tweets say
• the employee’s settings- have these been restricted?
• the association that may be made between the employee and the employer (not just in the profile section, but throughout the Twitter feed)
• use of separate accounts for personal and work purposes
• what the company disciplinary policy says about sanctions for social media misuse.
   

It is important that you have a social media policy in place so employees know whether their tweets are suitable.  If you would like to discuss your company’s social media policy this please contact us now.