An employment tribunal has confirmed that employers must pay staff their full holiday entitlements if they are off sick for more than a year and are unable to take their leave. James Rawlings who was off sick for more than 12 months before leaving his company was entitled to be paid his full holiday entitlement on resigning because his sickness absence had prevented him from taking his holiday leave the tribunal ruled. Previous rulings in the cases of Rawlings v The Direct Garage Door Company and Stringer v HMRC held that workers could accrue holiday pay whilst on sick leave and that it could be carried forward to the next holiday year. John Read employment law editor at XpertHR warned employers could face backdated claims from staff who have been off sick for more than a year and subsequently leave the company who believe they have holiday owed to them. This would have to be done within 3 months of the last salary payment they received.

Give us a call or pop into the office at 13 Tower Street, Ipswich if you want to talk through any situations you face in this area.

Some job and employment highlights from the budget as summarised by Business Link.

• The Young Person's Guarantee had been extended beyond March 2011, to ensure that young people aged 16-24 continue to be guaranteed a job, training or work experience if they cannot find work within six months of claiming Jobseekers' Allowance;
• A simplified system for working parents who claim the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit for short periods of time, such as during school holidays.
• People over 60, working at least 16 hours per week will be eligible for Working Tax Credit.
  

This builds on support that is already in place, including increased funding for Jobcentre Plus which is helping over half of all claimants to move off JobSeekers Allowance within three months. The Young Person's Guarantee, which includes the Future Jobs Fund, is providing up to 120,000 paid jobs for young people and a further 50,000 jobs for adults in areas hit hardest by the downturn.

Asda has agreed a deal with the Unite union to pay its agency workers the same rates as its permanent employees. The pay deal is expected to cost an additional £2.4 million. Unite states that the deal will end a ‘two-tier labour market’ that discriminates against predominantly migrant agency workers.

Do you need some advice on how equal pay might affect your business? Just Ask by calling 01473 281650 or email Karen@bluestarhr.co.uk

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), job satisfaction in the UK has fallen to 35% this year, from 48% in 2009, with issues such as concerns over career security and stress thought to be the cause.

Britons aged 18 to 24 saw an even sharper decline in job satisfaction, with a fall from 44% to only 5%.

CIPD lead adviser and co-author of the survey Claire McCartney said employers needed to continue working hard to build up motivation and commitment among their workforce. People were likely to be “bruised by job insecurity, lack of consultation over change, pay freezes or cuts, as well as increases in stress and conflict”.

How do you score? We can help you to run your own staff survey and identify free and low cost ways of improving employee engagement in your organsation. Give us a call to chat it through or pop in for a coffee if you are in Ipswich. Our offices are right in the town centre or visit our website for some ideas on improving employee engagement.