Employment Law Updates

Welcome to our legal news and updates section, for further advice in these or any other areas please contact Head Office or your Local Office.

Continuous Employment and Maternity Leave

Both OML and AML count towards an employees’ period of continuous employment for the purposes of entitlement to other statutory employment rights, e.g. the right to a redundancy payment.  Only OML counts for assessing seniority and personal length-of-service payments, such as pay increments, under her contract of employment. (For employees whose EWC begins on or after the 5th October 2008, both OML and AML will count.) Therefore, when assessing length of service for a pay rise for example, you can ignore any period of AML for any women whose EWC begins before 5th October 2008.

Employers Liability Insurance

There will be no legal requirement for employers to keep copies of out–of–date Employers’ Liability Insurance (ELI) certificates for 40 years. However, as an Employer, you are strongly advised to keep a detailed record of your ELI policies. 

Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act introduces a new offence, across the UK, for prosecuting companies and other organisations where there has been a gross failing, throughout the organisation, in the management of health and safety with fatal consequences. The Act will mean that those who disregard the safety of others at work, with fatal consequences, are more vulnerable to very serious criminal charges.

National Minimum Wage - October 2008

On the 1st October 2008, the minimum wage rates increased:

Workers aged 22 and over £5.73

Workers aged 18 - 21 £4.77

Workers aged 16, but not yet 18 £3.53.

Terms and Conditions during Additional Maternity Leave (AML) - Births due on or after 5th October 2008 | Top

Maternity and adoption leave regulations changed in October. Women whose babies are due on or after the 5th October 2008 will be entitled to the same terms and conditions during Additional Maternity Leave (AML) as they are during Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML). OML consists of 26 weeks leave which is available to all pregnant employees regardless of their length of service, provided they meet all the relevant conditions. AML follows on directly from OML and lasts a further 26 weeks.