She mentioned the problem informally to another line manager, who advised her to lodge a written complaint. The manager took no further action.
The zero hours contract worker eventually raised a formal grievance after her mother intervened.
She went off work and, after a disciplinary process lasting nearly a year, no further action was taken against her manager.
The employment tribunal, which had no doubt that the claimant’s initial reluctance to complain was because of her zero hours contract status, upheld her sexual harassment claim. She believed that she was reliant on her line manager to give her shifts.
The tribunal, which accepted the claimant’s version of events, awarded her £19,500 for injury to feelings. It was highly critical of the employer’s investigation, particularly its:
failure to follow up on the worker’s initial informal complaint; lack of any clear action against the alleged perpetrator; and long delay in completing the investigation.
The tribunal also expressed its surprise that, in a case of this sensitivity, nobody from the employer (apart from its lawyers) attended the tribunal to hear its liability decision.
Read more…
Underemployed versus zero hours contracts 30 April 2015
According to analysis by the TUC, in addition to the 700,000 workers who report being on zero-hours contracts, there are another 820,000 UK employees who report being underemployed on between 0 and 19 hours a week.
Zero-hours contracts are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to low-paid and insecure jobs, according to new analysis published by the TUC.
The analysis shows that in addition to the 700,000 workers who report being on zero-hours contracts, there are another 820,000 UK employees who report being underemployed on between 0 and 19 hours a week.
The TUC says that while zero-hours contracts have dominated the media headlines, short hours-contracts, along with other forms of insecure work, are also blighting the lives of many workers.
Underemployed short-hours workers are typically paid a much lower hourly rate than other employees. The average hourly wage for a short-hours worker on fewer than 20 hours a week is £8.40 an hour, compared to £13.20 an hour for all employees.
The TUC says that short-hours contracts, which can guarantee as little as one hour a week, can allow employers to get out of paying national insurance contributions.
The average underemployed short-hours worker would have to work more than 18 hours a week for their employer to start having to pay national insurance for their employment.
The TUC says that like zero-hours workers, many short-hours workers don’t know how many shifts they will get each week and often have to compete with colleagues for extra hours.
Read the full press release from the TUC.
Exclusivity clauses in zero-hour contracts finally banned 28 May 2015
Some two months after claiming that they had been banned , the government has prohibited the use of exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts.
This and other employment law-related measures are contained in the first commencement order made under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 129 of 453
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