1. Mental Health and Disability Discrimination
Engineering business with 115 employees.
Jim, a deputy manager, submits a sick note for 1 month which states work related stress. This was unexpected and the company has to find immediate cover. The HR manager is concerned that Jim might claim disability discrimination or bring a personal injury claim.
Jim is off sick for 3 months due to stress, on full pay.
Mental health and stress-related absence is not only costly but hard to remedy once the problem takes root. Stress can be hard to spot, and each individual is different.
We put in place a Stress Policy, risk assessments, and return to work interviews and managed Jim’s absence starting with obtaining an Occupational Health report. With careful and sensitive management of the absence, Jim was able to return on a phased return and valued the way in which the company supported him. He was able to eventually return to his duties fully and is a valued member of staff with no further incidents of stress-related absence. Jim did not bring a costly disability discrimination claim against the company, saving the company several thousands of pounds.
If it is necessary to dismiss an employee on sick leave, we will show you how to do this and minimise the risk to the business.
2. Performance Management
Tool manufacturer employing 82 people.
Rita, a finance administrator, had been incorrectly posting receipts against the wrong invoices, upsetting customers by chasing them for payment wrongly, and not chasing those that had not paid!
Rita’s performance had been poor but she had 16 years’ service and the Managing Director was concerned that she would “take him to the cleaners” if she was challenged.
Performance should be managed to identify the cause and only by having robust procedures in place can this be done effectively.
We advised our client on systems for monitoring and recording employee performance and on this occasion on disciplining Rita for poor performance. Although it was a difficult process, by having us in her corner it distanced the manager from the employee, and they were able to follow a fair and objective process. Rita recognised that her performance was not good, her heart was not in it anymore and she resigned with no consequence for the business.
3. Pregnancy and Maternity
Accountancy Firm employing 36 people.
The business has a ‘rising star’, Heather, who was working towards promotion to Director level. She falls pregnant unexpectedly and the Managing Director decides that the timing is not right to her a Director due to the likely disruption of maternity leave. She resigns and brings a claim for pregnancy related discrimination.
The Employment Tribunal awards her £56,000.
Employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave have special rights and it is essential for the Directors and managers to know what these are.
Proper guidance on managing this, options open to the company and negotiating a position with the employee would have prevented this claim.
4. Sexual Harassment
Restaurant and bar employing 23.
Bert, the head chef is accused of touching a waitress in a sexual way which scared and upset her. A grievance from 3 female staff was raised against Bert. The owner feared it would be hard to get a replacement chef and gave him a telling off and thought it would all go away.
The waitress claimed Constructive Dismissal and Sexual Harassment and was awarded £16,660. Legal costs amounted to £9,000. This resulted in an immediate downturn in trade after adverse Facebook comments.
All staff should undergo our bespoke Equality and Diversity training to prevent this type of claim. Training acts as a defence to a discrimination claim as it evidences the company’s steps to take preventative action. Our insured Plan fortunately covered the costs of defending the claim and picked up the compensation award.
5. Restrictive Covenants
Technology company employing 15 and recruiting heavily for growth.
A talented programmer, Rich, resigns and goes to work for a competitor. The business starts to lose key clients and finds out that Rich has been planning this for a while and has contacted clients and told them of his move and undercut prices.
The company loses 5 key clients costing approximately £50,000 loss in business.
An expertly drafted contract containing enforceable restrictive covenants would minimise this risk and act as a deterrent. Protecting the company’s business interests, social media accounts and confidential information should be considered at the recruitment stage and when someone leaves. Having a robust legal team in your corner to tackle breaches is invaluable.
6. Bullying in the workplace
You have a General Manager employed in one of your restaurants. You think that he is a nice guy. One of your young female members of staff approaches you and tells you that the General Manager has been harassing her. The intimidating behaviour was mainly verbal but he did shake her a couple of times. You are not really sure how to deal with it and so ignore it and assume that it will just sort itself out and she hands her notice in shortly afterwards so you think that the problem is solved.
The member of staff goes to an Employment Tribunal claiming constructive unfair dismissal, direct sex discrimination and sexual harassment.
She is awarded £19,800 which you need to pay.
Having quick access to a specialist advisor to advise you on what steps to take could have avoided the award.
7. Sickness
Your receptionist seems to suffer from an above average amount of headaches, colds and general health complaints resulting in over 10 days off sick in the last 6 months. You would like to address this but don’t know how.
Short-term absences cost money, cause disruption and effect staff morale.
A robust sickness absence policy will help address the problem and, alongside our expert HR advice, when specific situations arise, you can reduce your firm’s overall sickness absence. An employee can be dismissed in the right circumstances.
8. Redundancy case
Our charity client was forced to close a site and make a redundancy. Our client found an alternative role for the employee so she could keep a job however the employee turned this down because she did not feel it was a suitable replacement.
The result of the consultation was that this employee was made redundant and did not receive her statutory redundancy pay as she had refused a suitable alternative role. Because of this, the employee brought a claim for the unpaid statutory redundancy pay which she believed she was entitled to. The charity’s position remained that because she had unreasonably refused a suitable alternative role and thus made herself willingly unemployed, she was not entitled to redundancy pay.
Bhayani Law assisted with letters, and procedural guidance and assessed the alternative role to determine that it was suitable because of its similarities to the job she was already doing to ensure that they did not fall foul of their obligations. When the claim landed, the client was seamlessly handed to our legal team to represent our client’s defence. We drafted and submitted a comprehensive grounds of resistance to the tribunal, arguing why we believed that the client’s decision was the right one. We then completed each mandatory stage of the pre-hearing process and the final hearing took place in September 2022.
For all of our clients, we step into their shoes to take away the stress that comes with litigation and take ownership of the matter from start to finish.
Our service always comes with a personal touch to ensure the client feels supported and reassured throughout, while equally managing their expectations with honest and transparent advice.
9. Recruitment
St Luke’s Hospice – 240 employees
When St Luke’s Hospice needed to find an excellent new Lead for our HR, Volunteering and Learning & Development Team, we asked Bhayani Recruitment if they could help us. From the start, the team gave us that professional service with a personal friendly touch.
They helped us explore the role and work out exactly what we wanted, through the process of creating the profiles and advert, to the actual selection and interviews, we found the relationship excellent. Ultimately we found the right person with the skills and values we needed, and the Bhayani Recruitment team ensured excellent communication without getting in the way.
“The team appreciated the challenges we face as a charity”
The team also appreciated some of the challenges we face as a charity and have been incredibly supportive to us throughout. I can only recommend them and will look forward to working with Bhayani Law again in the future.
10. Watertight HR & Legal Plan
The King’s Foundation – 23 permanent and 600 seasonal employees
As a small charity with a low number of permanent staff there is little justification for a full time employee with HR responsibility; however we are conscious of the need to have robust HR policies and procedures for the benefit of the organisation and our staff.
The Bhayani Law Watertight HR & Legal Plan has fitted our needs perfectly over the last 6 years – as well as ensuring we get prompt (and accurate) answers to our queries, we have no doubt avoided paying unnecessary costs as a result of excellent advice.
“We have no doubt avoided paying unnecessary costs as a result of excellent advice”
We have particularly benefited from the expertise of Kathryn and Lindsey but cannot fault the professionalism of the whole team. Instead of simply providing a dry, impersonal HR service, they have really got to know our organisation and our team and all of their advice and support feels personal and tailored to our needs.
Co-educational school for 3–16-year-olds – 90 employees
Bhayani Law helped us address and resolve complex issues in a timely, professional, and compassionate manner. They provide an outstanding service which delivers an all- round package for us.
“We feel confident and secure even in the most difficult situations”
Not only do the consummate professionals deliver sound actionable advice, they take the time and make the effort to ensure that there is a deep level of understanding of process, risk and outcomes for all involved. It seems that they never shut their doors as there is always someone on the end of the phone to offer advice. An added bonus is that you get a genuinely friendly, family feel service which leaves you feeling confident and secure even in the most difficult situations.
Sheffield Hospitals Charity – 17 employees
Bhayani Law are the trusted HR support provider for Sheffield Hospitals Charity, delivering the highest standards. Their whole team and particularly our advisor, Phoebe, has a good solid understanding of our charity and a deep understating of HR law and Governance.
“Bhayani Law has a solid understanding of our charity”
I highly recommend Phoebe and Bhayani Law to all potential clients not just from the third sector, who expect the highest results.
Rotherham Federation – 17 employees.
Bhayani Law has professionalised our HR procedures and has been a great addition to the Charity. Their support has enabled us to professionalise our HR processes and improved everyone’s confidence in dealing with day to day, and ad hoc occurrences. Any new starters are now presented with a professional work environment with all necessary policies (staff handbook they worked up with us) in place, combined with a strong work ethic that now exists within an efficient team.
The way in which they deliver their services is great. Bhayani Law took the time to understand our Charity and its values, were genuinely interested in how we approached our work, and dedicated a lead member of their team to support us. We have a great working relationship with Kathryn.
“Bhayani Law’s support has enabled me to focus more on the development of our Charity”
Not only have their services taken our HR processes to another level, their support has also enabled me (CEO) to focus more on the development of our Charity safe in the knowledge that we have a solid HR foundation/base in place now.
Our Charity has invested in Bhayani Law for the last 4 years, and we intend to continue with that investment in the future.
