Unite estimates that the failure to pay the correct overtime rates meant that workers were on average being underpaid by over £100 a week.
Following a meeting on 27 March with CSJV, the company has committed to immediately begin paying the correct overtime rates and to increase the holiday entitlement as set out in the ‘framework agreement’ which agreed between unions and HS2 in April 2016 to ensure good working relationships throughout the project.
CSJV has also committed to provide back pay to all the affected workers who have been underpaid on the site. Unite estimates that the back pay bill is in excess of £1 million.
Even with the victory on overtime and holiday entitlement serious issues remain on the troubled project. CSJV is still refusing Unite access to the canteen to freely speak to workers during their breaks. CSJV allege that a Unite officer speaking to workers during their breaks in the canteen would compromise their “health, safety and welfare”. Unite entirely refutes this suggestion and has challenged CSJV to provide evidence for its stance but it has been unable to do so.
Unite national officer Jerry Swain, said:
“…This is the second time that Unite has discovered serious problems with the CSJV contract. Since the overtime and holiday scandal was revealed, workers have come forward to raise fresh issues about pay, conditions, safety and welfare, with Unite...”
Full details can be found on Unite’s website.
Back to Contents
Bounty UK fined £400,000 for sharing personal data unlawfully 18 April 2019
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Bounty (UK) Limited £400,000 for illegally sharing personal information belonging to more than 14 million people.
An ICO investigation found that Bounty, a pregnancy and parenting club, collected personal information for the purpose of membership registration through its website and mobile app, merchandise pack claim cards and directly from new mothers at hospital bedsides. But the company also operated as a data broking service until 30 April 2018, supplying data to third parties for the purpose of electronic direct marketing.
Bounty breached the Data Protection Act 1998 by sharing personal information with a number of organisations without being fully clear with people that it might do so.
The company shared approximately 34.4 million records between June 2017 and April 2018 with credit reference and marketing agencies, including Acxiom, Equifax, Indicia and Sky.
These organisations represented the four largest recipients out of a total of 39 organisations which Bounty confirmed it shared personal data with.
The personal information shared was not only of potentially vulnerable, new mothers or mothers-to-be but also of very young children, including the birth date and sex of a child.
Steve Eckersley, ICO’s Director of Investigations, said:
“The number of personal records and people affected in this case is unprecedented in the history of the ICO’s investigations into data broking industry and organisations linked to this.
Bounty were not open or transparent to the millions of people that their personal data may be passed on to such large number of organisations. Any consent given by these people was clearly not informed. Bounty’s actions appear to have been motivated by financial gain, given that data sharing was an integral part of their business model at the time.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
Page 103 of 629
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker