Lizards, bats and workers' rights

This week’s House of Commons debate on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill illuminates the danger of the current government scrapping or watering down employment laws once we exit the EU. 

Post-exit, there will most likely be a degree of “cherry picking” of employment laws, with the government changing or scrapping many especially where doing so might be seen as “business-friendly” (TUPE anyone?). Without the European Court of Justice or EU to prevent this, it will be down to the government of the day, possibly using Henry VIII-style autocratic power with limited oversight in Parliament.

An unlikely event?  Why?  Whilst Theresa May says she respects workers’ rights, we know many Conservatives don’t and after all who’d bet on Theresa May still being PM in 2019?

Like Kenneth Clarke said in the House of Commons as part of the debate, concerning animal rights and employment protection, “there are members of the present government who are not excessively fond of lizards and bats, or workers’ rights”. He argued for the government to limit what he interprets as a power grab by them for the Henry VIII powers. 

Whatever the outcome of the Bill, workers’ rights need to stay.  In terms of the main world economies, the UK already has the fewest employment law protections of all except for the US and Canada.  Let’s not dumb ourselves down further and let’s look after our lizards, bats and workers.

David Sorensen  - Partner

For further information on Employment Rights please visit our website or call 0033 3344 9603 and ask to speak with our Employment Rights team.

“The Uber hack” – 57 million accounts compromised?

The $68bn company admitted this week that their systems had been hacked and personal information stolen, in October 2016, and that Uber had paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the information and keep the breach quiet.

The UK’s information commissioner’s office said, “Uber’s announcement about a concealed data breach last October raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics… Deliberately concealing breaches from regulators and citizens could attract higher fines for companies.”

Was Uber right to cave in to the hackers?

I doubt it.

Not only does it send a signal (from one of the world’s biggest companies) that hacking pays – but it positively encourages the hackers to try again, and we can be reasonably sure that if the hackers got away with a mere $100K last time, they’ll be looking to up the ante next.

And Uber’s failure to come clean is surely a major mistake.  Not only is the ICO likely to take a dim view about a cover-up – but customers can rightly be outraged that their personal details, passwords and so on might have been compromised with no opportunity afforded to them to take steps to protect themselves (e.g. by making password changes).  The reputational cost alone is likely to be significant.

And all this as UK organisations are looking to 2018 and implementation of a new set of Data Protection laws to mirror the EU’s “GDPR” (General Data Protection Regulations) – a lot of work needs to be done between now and 25th May 2018 to ensure that effective compliance regimes are in place.

We are already advising a number of Unions about the implications of the new regime.

For professional, confidential advice contact Paul Scholey.

Mental Health at Work

Sadly, I deal with many workplace disability discrimination cases and a high proportion of those involve mental health issues. In my experience, employers find it much more difficult to understand and manage mental health issues in the workplace, in contrast to other disabilities.  

I therefore welcomed Theresa May’s announcement in January this year that an independent review was to be undertaken into how employers can better support all individuals in employment with mental ill health or poor well being to remain in and thrive through work. Last month, the government’s report was released.

As you may have seen in the headlines, the review uncovered some staggering facts and figures:

• 300,000 people with a long term mental health problem lose their jobs each year.
• 15% of people at work have symptoms of an existing mental health problem.
• Poor mental health of employees is costing employers between £33 billion and £42 billion a year, stemming from sick leave, staff turnover and individuals being less productive in their roles (“presenteeism”).
• The cost of poor mental health to the government is between £24 billion and £27 billion, resulting from costs of providing benefits, falls in tax revenue and costs to the NHS.
• And the cost to the economy as a whole from lost output?...between £74 billion and £99 billion a year!   

The “inescapable conclusion” was that it was massively in the interests of both employers and the government to prioritise and invest far more in improving mental health. I wholeheartedly agree with that conclusion.

But what can employers do about it?

The report proposes “mental health core standards”, a framework for a set of actions which could be implemented across all workplaces quickly and at little or no cost. It recommends the following:

• Implement and communicate mental health at work plans;
• develop mental health awareness among employees;
• encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available;
• provide good working conditions and a healthy work-life balance;
• promote effective people management through line managers and supervisors;
• routinely monitor employee mental health and wellbeing.  

Personally, I think the recommendations are a very good start.

So many of my cases result from a serious lack of appreciation and understanding of mental health issues and how to balance them against the employer’s need to achieve results, deal with absenteeism and address perceived performance issues. I therefore believe that implementation of the framework would give employers a very different perspective on these types of cases and, if well managed and well informed, I expect many employers will realise just how much those with mental health issues can thrive at work, as much as anyone else.   

Daniel Kindell  - Solicitor

For further information on Employment Rights please visit our website or call 0033 3344 9603 and ask to speak with our Employment Rights team.