This month’s news in brief
Correction
In our September issue we ran a news story under the headline
"Derbyshire Police in the dock over high-level discrimination" (News,
page 4) stating that Derbyshire Police had been found liable for discrimination
on the grounds of marriage. We would like to point out that Derbyshire Police
was not involved in this case and the story referred to them in error – the
case in question was in fact against Bedford-shire Police. We apologise
unreservedly to Derbyshire Police for any difficulties this error may have
caused.
Online recruitment may be forced abroad
Online recruitment firms could be forced to relocate abroad if the
Employment Agencies Act is not amended to exclude them. Jobsites will be forced
to comply with stringent new rules, such as organising face-to-face meetings
with all candidates using their services and having copies of all
qualifications in submitted CVs.
Employers turn to Big Brother methods
Employers are increasingly turning to Big Brother technology to monitor
staff use of communications technology, says The Work Foundation. Two-thirds of organisations with internet
use policies, monitor web-site access, a similar proportion incoming e-mails
and 43 per cent for inappropriate content. It warned employers should take care
to strike the right balance between the need to monitor and the employees’
right to privacy and trust.
Agency workers parity from day one?
The European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee voted last
month to remove the six-week exemption period in the Agency Workers Directive.
This raises the prospect of agency workers being given the same pay and
conditions as perm-anent staff from day one.
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Firms struggle to keep pace with new laws
Seventy per cent of FTSE 250 companies are struggling to effectively monitor
new regulations such as health and safety, data protection and company law. A
report by law firm DLA and the London School of Economics finds most are
unprepared for a regulatory crisis – a fifth admit they have never reviewed
their crisis management plans.
