We All Have A Lot On Our Plate

But here are three reminders of what you may need to consider over the coming months:

1. Although we have covered this in a previous update it is worth a reminder that your Employment Particulars (Section 1 Statements) containing basic employment information for your employees should be up to date. Often this information is contained in a contract of employment. From 6 April the information to be given has been expanded and it is also now a day one right so the particulars must be given on or before your employee joins. There are also new rules around what can be referred to in other documents. Section 1 Statements should also now be given to workers as well as employees. If you have not updated your documents with the changes from April, then you should think about doing so.

2. EU nationals had plenty of concerns in the early part of the Brexit negotiations. You may have employed EU nationals for a number of years. Although there continue to be wranglings over the Withdrawal Agreement and trade negotiations, the EU Settlement Scheme has been open to applicants in the UK since 30 March 2019. EU nationals can apply for settled status or pre-settled status and there is plenty of information and guidance on the Government website as to the steps to be taken and the evidence required. EU nationals are required to apply before the deadline of 30 June 2021, but they should consider doing so this year, before 31 December, particularly if they have been living here for some time. You might want to give them a nudge to make sure that they are underway with the process.

3. If you are in the unfortunate position of having to make redundancies and depending on the nature of your business, you might want to think about what post-employment restrictions you have in place to ward off those employees who might want to take clients and confidential information with them. This is not an easy legal area to navigate. Understandable indignation should give way to a pragmatic approach. Sometimes all that is needed is a reminder about those post-employment obligations, on other occasions something more forceful is required. Financial loss or potential financial loss should feature heavily in your decision making.

We can help with these and any other issues. You can always contact us just for a chat because as well as working with you, we are also very happy to tell you that you have nothing to worry about so you have less on your plate!

If you would like to discuss any Employment law issues, please contact Iain Jenkins on 01423 530630 or at i.jenkins@mccormicks-solicitors.com.