Scandal Of Mistreatment and Low Pay

Two million UK workers are ‘trapped in a continual round of low-paid and insecure work where mistreatment is the norm’ according to the findings of the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment, published this week.

The Commission, set up by the TUC and involving employers and independent experts as well as trade unionists, says Government, unions, employers and consumers must now all play a part in ending exploitation at work.

Commissioners say that they were shocked both by the extent of vulnerable work and that much of the poor treatment they found was perfectly legal. The report says that ‘employment practices attacked as exploitative in the 19th century are still common today’ and that the ‘poor treatment at work that we have found should not be tolerated.’

Commissioner and SERCO Chairman Kevin Beeston said: ‘During my time on the Commission, meeting vulnerable workers and hearing the evidence first-hand for myself, I have become increasingly surprised by my own and society’s ignorance of these issues.

‘It’s disappointing to see how low the morals of some unscrupulous employers can be, and it’s time society stopped turning a blind eye to these workplace abuses that are shaming the world of work and tarnishing the reputations of good employers.’

TUC General Secretary and Chair of the Commission Brendan Barber said, ‘All the Commissioners - whatever their backgrounds - were shocked at just how vulnerable some workers are in today’s Britain. Their treatment is a national scandal, and we need urgent action.

‘But we have to cut thought the sterile debate that has turned any proposal to help even the most exploited people at work into a pro-union, anti-business old Labour move. Good employers have nothing to fear - and much to gain - from policies that stop them being undercut by bad employers who break the law or use loopholes to get round it.’

The report says that vulnerable workers suffer because they do not know their rights, lack an escape route from vulnerable jobs, cannot get their rights enforced - and often suffer when they try to - and that they fall through gaps in employment law that mean they do not enjoy the decent minimum standards to which the Government is committed. The report reveals OECD research showing that the UK has less employment protection than any other advanced economy apart from the USA.

Among the recommendations made by the Commission’s report, available free on-line at www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk are

• To counter widespread ignorance of employment rights, particularly among vulnerable workers, there should be a major awareness programme and better funding of employment rights advice.
• To counter the lack of proactive and co-ordinated enforcement of employment rights, there should be more funding for enforcement agencies such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the minimum wage enforcement unit of HMRC, changes in the law that will allow them to work together more closely and more proactive enforcement that targets bad employers without waiting for complaints from their insecure victims.
• Some straightforward breaches of employment rights, such as illegal deductions from pay packets, which currently can only be enforced by individuals taking difficult and slow Employment Tribunal cases should be policed by an agency such as HMRC’s minimum wage enforcement unit.
• A new Fair Employment Commission involving employers, unions and civil society groups should co-ordinate the work of enforcement agencies, monitor awareness of employment rights and make recommendations to Government.
• The Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority (GLA) regime should apply to other sectors where agencies use vulnerable workers as there is evidence of exploitative treatment in sectors that are not currently regulated such as care homes or construction.
• There should be a reform of employment status law that denies rights and any security to workers who do not count as employees as they do not have a contract of employment.
• Equal treatment for agency workers with permanent employees doing the same work.
• Changes in immigration law to reduce the vulnerability of migrant workers who raise complaints to losing their jobs and thus facing destitution.
• Vulnerable workers should be helped to move into better jobs, through more training - including ESOL for migrant workers - and a more flexible benefits system.

Commissioner Belinda Earl, Chief Executive, Jaeger, said: ‘During my work on the Commission I was able to meet with some of the UK’s most vulnerable workers in London. I was shocked that such poor practice still exists; one worker that I spoke to told me he had worked 70 hours a week, in a fast food takeaway, for 3 years without any paid holiday - and he was not even being paid the minimum wage. I also met with migrant domestic workers, who were being underpaid and exploited - and who faced physical and sexual violence from their employers. It is unacceptable that these practices exist today and more action is needed to prevent these extreme violations of employment law.’

Protection For Women Undergoing IVF

The Eurpoean Court of Justice has confirmed that dismissal or unfavourable treatment of women undergoing IVF amounts to sex discrimination. In a case referred from Austria (Mayr v Backerei und Konditorei Gerhard Flockner OHG ECJ C-506/06, 26/2/08), the EJC said that the Pregnant Workers Directive only had effect from the moment of pregnancy, which in a case of IVF was when the fertilised ova was implanted.

However, the court felt it appropriate to conclude that the Equal Treatment Directive precludes the dismissal of a woman where it is established that the dismissal is based on the fact she had undergone IVF treatment.

Currently ACM is dealing with a case where a member undergoing treatment is facing questions about her commitment to her job, directly arising from her need to attend a fertility clinic. This recent ruling is therefore both welcome and timely.

Dealing With Mental Health Problems

Employment relations service Acas has issued advice on how to spot and deal with mental health problems at work. The advice comes ahead of Depression Awareness Week (21 – 26 April) which is focusing on employment this year.

Gill Trevelyan, Head of Training and Equality Services says: “Spotting and doing something about troubled employees is an important business skill. As well as being good managers in the traditional sense, we urge bosses to look out for early indicators before they develop into something more serious, like stress or depression. Healthy and content workers translate directly into productive employees.”

The advice also coincides with the release of Acas’ new free guide on Health, work & wellbeing.

EHRC Publishes Single Equality Scheme

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published its first single equality scheme.

The scheme lays out the practical steps the Commission will take to promote equality and human rights in everything it does. The document will be the starting point for its three-year scheme which will be developed during 2008/9. All public authorities have a duty to produce an equality scheme.

Because of the Commission’s unique remit, the scheme goes beyond the legal requirement to address gender, disability and race and also covers issues around age, sexual orientation, religion or belief and human rights.  The Commission has a special position among public authorities as these duties are identical to its own remit. The Commission is also responsible for ensuring other public bodies meet the legal requirements of the equality duties.

A copy of the scheme can be found on the EHRC website.

Work Related Stress Responsible For Sucides

Work related stress could be responsible for as many as 250 suicides each year, more than the total number of fatal accidents at work recorded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

These alarming figures are highlighted by the trade union Hazards magazine in a recently published report called Crying Shame. They are based upon statistics in Japan where an estimated 5% of suicides are considered work related.

In their report, Hazards magazine refers to the case of three teachers, all of whom found the pressure of their jobs too much. They also point out that figures released by the HSE in November 2007, showed a sharp upturn in cases of work-related “stress, depression or anxiety,” with the total affected up to 530,000 in 2006/07 from 420,000 the previous year.

In a related matter, the House of Laws recently ruled in the case of Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd. It found the employer liable for Mr Corr’s suicide where it directly resulted from foreseeable depression caused by an accident at work (House of Lords on 27.2.08).

ACM Members’ Excessive Working Hours

ACM members regularly work excessive hours in order to fulfill their management duties; yet colleges appear unmoved by what is clearly a widespread disregard of the Working Time Regulations. These are some of the findings, just published by ACM, taken from results of their survey of members’ working time.

The 2007 Survey, which was undertaken last term, found that two out of three ACM members are working in excess of the average 48 hour week limit set by the Working Time Regulations, but only 4% have signed a working time opt-out that allows them to do so. This suggests colleges are ignoring safe limits on working hours in order to ensure targets are met.

In addition, 90% of ACM members have so much work that they regularly take some home, while 81% describe the demands of their job as high. And as we have already reported on this blog, an alarming one in eight members has been diagnosed by a GP as suffering from work related stress in the 12 months before the survey was undertaken.

Indeed, exposure to factors that can cause stress is high. One in four members described their role at their college as not clearly defined, and a further quarter described their role as conflicting. Two thirds of members also said they had experienced substantial change in the last 12 months.

Sadly, the 2007 survey results are almost identical to those of the previous survey carried out in March 2004. The implication is that moves to improve work life balance in the UK have simply by-passed the Further Education sector.

ACM Head of Employment Relations David Green said, “These figures ought to be shocking, but sadly they come as no surprise. They do underline though, just how much pressure is placed upon college managers. Indeed, add in the fact that colleges restructure regularly and it is hardly surprising that stress is such a big problem.

“Unfortunately colleges are reluctant to tackle the problem. They have LSC targets to reach; and the effect on their staffs’ work life balance and even health simply isn’t a big enough priority.”

ACM has been pressing the Association of Colleges to negotiate national guidelines on reducing working time.

Funding Boost For Acas

The Government will today announce support worth up to £37 million for the employment relations service Acas to help prevent work place disputes unnecessarily going to employment tribunals.

The measures are part of package designed to simplify the dispute resolution system, saving business and employees what, according to the government estimates, could be over £175m a year.

The extra funding, over three years, will allow Acas to boost its helpline and advice services and offer help at any stage of a dispute to make sure it is never too late to choose an informal resolution.

Minister for Employment Relations, Pat McFadden, said:

“The link between successful employment relations and productivity is clear. Early action can often prevent the need for tribunals, bringing enormous benefits to business and employees.

“We want to move from the current overly rigid and legalistic process to one where there is more conciliation between employers and employees.

“This new system will strike a balance between ensuring workers can protect their rights through employment tribunals while helping them to resolve disputes as early as possible.”

Recent research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research showed that for every pound Acas spends, over £16 is returned, equating to £800 million a year in benefits to UK companies, employees and the economy.

Acas Chair, Ed Sweeney, said:

“Acas provides a first-class service to employers and employees, based on impartiality, integrity and expertise. We also give the taxpayer outstanding value for money, with every pound invested in us resulting in a £16 benefit to the economy.

“This new investment will enable us to increase our effectiveness and spread the benefits more widely. I am delighted by this news and recognition of the unique and valuable role that we play.”

Statutory Compensation Limits Change Today

As we reported on this blog last month, the new limit on a week’s pay for redundancy and other statutory calculations increases today from £310 to £330. Members and ACM negotiators should make sure that where statutory minimum payments are applied, colleges use the new figure. Contractual redundancy payments are not affected.

Opinion in Coleman Case Welcomed

ACM has welcomed the opnion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice on the Coleman Attridge case. Sharon Coleman had claimed under the Disability Discrimination Act that her employer had treated her less favourably than others because she had a disabled child.

The issue at stake was whether disability discrimination law protects people who, although not themselves disabled, face discrimination because of their association with a disabled person. The Employment Tribunal had asked the European Court for a decision on whether such discrimination is covered by European law. The Advocate General’s opinion is absolutely clear that it does, and also that this would extend to all areas covered by anti-discrimination law.

David Green, ACM Head of Employment Relations said, “This is an important decision which will be welcomed by many ACM members in a similar position to Sharon. Despite colleges having policies on promoting equality, we’ve seen members with caring responsibilities lose their jobs because of their college’s failure to make reasonable adjustments.”

The TUC was also supportive. General Secretary Brendan Barber said, “The Advocate General has given a welcome opinion in this important case. Workers with caring responsibilities should be protected from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

‘Although most sensible employers now realise the benefits that come from being flexible and helping staff balance their lives, there are many bosses still living in the last century, who need to be persuaded to do much, much more to help their employees have less stressful lives and not to make life even more difficult for those already shouldering caring responsibilities.”

More information on the Advocate general’s decision can be found here.

DDA and Reasonable Adjustments

The importance of properly assessing whether an action would amount to a reasonable adjustment under the Disability Discrimination Act has been highlighted by a recent case.

In Environment Agency v Rowan, the agency successfully appealed that in refusing Ms. Rowan a trial period of working from home, it did not discriminate by failing to apply a reasonable adjustment. However, the Employment Appeals Tribunal did state that a trial period should normally be used as a way of assessing if a future adjustment was viable rather than being seen as an adjustment itself.

This ruling may help ACM negotiators press for a trial period in order to assess the suitability of a proposed adjustment where it looks like the employer is minded to refuse the proposal.

Indeed, in this particular case the EAT said, “It is prudent for employers to adopt a trial period in an appropriate case to see whether home-working for example is a reasonable adjustment. An employer who has failed to investigate the possibility of home-working by a trial period may find it difficult to establish that home-working was not a reasonable adjustment. We consider that a trial period is akin to a consultation, or the obtaining of medical and other specialist reports; these do not of themselves mitigate or prevent or shield the employee from anything.”

Increase In Statutory Compensation Limits

The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2007 SI 2007/3570 comes into force on 1 February 2008, increasing the limits applying to certain awards of employment tribunals, and other amounts payable under employment legislation.

The notable changes are:

• the limit on the amount of a week’s pay for the purposes of calculating, among other things, statutory redundancy payments and the basic award for unfair dismissal, will increase from £310 to £330
• the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal goes up from £60,600 to £63,000.

Bad Day For Rights At Work

Commenting on the outcome of yeterday’s meeting of Europe’s Social Affairs Council, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said,

“This is a bad day for rights at work across Europe, but especially in the UK. It is very disappointing that there has been no progress on the agency working Directive. There is real anger among unions that the UK Government played the pivotal role in blocking progress on this modest measure to improve workplace justice.

‘Contrary to business scare-mongering, this Directive would not stop agencies providing temporary staff to employers who need them. What it would have done was both make it more difficult for employers to undercut wages and conditions and help slow the growth of a two-tier workforce.

‘But unions will not give up the campaign to deliver justice for agency workers.”