February 2012
Putting lawyers in touch with the youth of Oldham
Pearson Hinchliffe partner, Michael Pitt, takes over as 2012 Oldham Law Association President.
MoreEuropean Parliament votes to scrap working time opt-out
18th December 2008
The European Parliament has voted to end the opt-out from the 48-hour working week currently contained in the Working Time Directive (No.2003/88), confirming the fears of many UK business organisations.
The European Parliament has also proposed a number of other measures to increase the protection the Directive offers to workers. The amended text, however, still has to be approved by the Council of the European Union.
Earlier this year, in order to secure the UK's agreement to the Directive on Temporary Agency Work (No.2008/104), the Council of the European Union agreed to retain the opt-out provided it was 'accompanied by a number of conditions in order to guarantee the protection of health and safety of workers'. However, these measures failed to convince the European Parliament to retain 'a provision that undermines worker health and safety'. The amended text provides for a transitional period of 36 months after the revised Directive comes into force, during which Member States would still be allowed to use the opt-out. Nevertheless, during the transitional period the opt-out would be more strictly controlled, requiring, for example, renewal every six months.
Other amendments, designed to ensure that the Directive is 'effective in protecting workers' health', include creating a right for workers to request changes to working hours and an obligation on employers to inform workers well in advance of any changes to working time patterns. Where a worker has more than one contract of employment, working time would include the total time worked under all the contracts. The amendments do not, however, address which employer would be responsible for ensuring that a worker does not work over 48 hours. It is also proposed that the entire period of on-call time will be regarded as working time, although inactive parts of on-call time may, in accordance with collective agreement or national law, be calculated so as not to count towards the maximum weekly working time.
The likelihood of the amendments becoming law depends on the attitude of the European Commission and the Council of the European Union during the remainder of the legislative process. Both the Council and the Commission may be less willing to retain the opt-out now that the UK is in a weakened bargaining position, having agreed to the Directive on Temporary Agency Work. The Commission will now deliver an opinion on the European Parliament's amendments. The Council must then approve the amendments by a qualified majority, or unanimously if the Commission delivers a negative opinion on at least one amendment. If the Council fails to approve all the European Parliament's amendments, the conciliation procedure is started with a view to obtaining a joint text.
Further information:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
For further guidance and advice, please click here to contact a specialist employment lawyer.
Notes
Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law is a commercial law practice providing a range of legal services to business and commercial clients in Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside, Bury, Bolton and across the North West. The firm's specialities include Company & Commercial, Employment Law, Commercial Litigation and Commercial Property matters.
As one of the leading law firms in the North of England, Pearson Hinchliffe’s mission is to be ‘the complete law firm’; providing the highest quality legal services to its clients. It does this by offering practical and cost effective, high quality legal advice for a wide range of clients. Each client is catered for as an individual with their business and personal requirements taken into account which allows for a highly personalised service.
MEDIA: For more information on this article or Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law, please contact a member of the marketing communications team on +44 (0)161 785 3500 or email
muhammed.shaikh@pearson-hinchliffe.co.uk
January 2012
Company and commercial law reforms to reduce red tape
Companies of all shapes and sizes have been asked for their views on how to tackle unnecessary bureaucracy in company and commercial law.
MoreJanuary 2012
Increase in unfair dismissal qualifying period will apply only to new employees
From 6 April 2012 the qualifying period of service for making a claim increases from one to two years.
MoreJanuary 2012
Maximum compensation for unfair dismissal increases from 1 February 2012
Annual revision of employment tribunal award limits and other amounts payable under employment legislation.
MoreDecember 2011
Health and safety laws to be cut by half
Government plans to slash health and safety red tape will mean substantial savings for small firms, business groups have said.
MoreNovember 2011
Weight Watchers case: the importance to employers of employment status.
The Upper Tier Tribunal holds 1,700 ‘leaders’ at Weight Watchers were employees for tax purposes.
MoreSeptember 2011
How to Conduct a Disciplinary Hearing
A recent presentation by Employment solicitor, Susan Mayall, setting out the stages for handling a disciplinary, referencing the ACAS Code of Conduct.
June 2011
ACAS Advice leaflet “Holidays and Holiday Pay”
Download the guidance covering arrangements for holidays and holiday pay.
October 2010
Recent Case Study: Commercial Landlord and Tenant - An Authorised Guarantee Agreement
Authorised Guarantee Agreements keep the original tenant on the hook in case a third party assignee defaults; they should be drafted with care.
July 2010
Recent Case Study: Doing Battle in the Boardroom
How Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law helped members of the Board of Directors achieve the outcome they sought in their boardroom dispute with a senior executive director.
May 2010
How the Mergers & Acquisitions team helped Lanes Group PLC achieve their LAS sell-off
Drainage specialists dispose £12.3 million majority stake in Lanes Assistance Services.
March 2010
PH Employment Direct
The Employment team at Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law have created PH Employment Direct - a user-friendly and simple service that gives you access to the best advice at the end of a phone 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
February 2010
Oldham Construction Sector
On 3 February 2010 Corporate Commercial partner Roger Hinchliffe delivered a presentation entitled, ‘Joint Ventures’ to the Oldham Construction Sector group.
January 2010
Debt Recovery Service
With our specialist commercial Debt Recovery service you can significantly increase the speed and likelihood of recovering the money owed to your business.