Employment lawyers are calling for an abolition of employment laws. Whatever next? Soccer stars calling for an end to football? Jade Goody campaigning for an end to immigration controls? Guru pleading for people to stop doing stupid things?
Mark Ellis, employment law solicitor and chief executive officer at business consultancy Ellis Whittam, says: “Silly amounts of compensation awarded to an aggrieved employee can put an entire business at risk.”
This is presumably not something too many employment lawyers have worried about while driving their Ferraris to their weekend retreats in Monaco.
Ellis calls for employers tobe able to sack workers they don’t like without fear of ending up in court. Well, once Guru had got over the incredibly foolhardy idea of talking himself out of valuable work, he began to warm to this argument.
HR professionals would surely have more fun if they could sack people for being female, straight, supporting Chelsea, making their tea too milky, or not fancying them.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
But, wait a minute, what if employees could decide not to work for their bosses with the same protection from repercussions?
Guru looks forward to the day that workers can tell their line manager: “Your shirt doesn’t go with your tie, so I’m not handing in that report until tomorrow.” Or: “You are such an arrogant loser, I’m going down the pub for the rest ofthe day.” Keep believing, disciples.
