Employment Law Aberdeen News

Case One : Mr Jones works as an assistant to a Managing Director in an advertising firm. Due to the nature of his employment, he frequently has to stay late in order to finish or prepare work for the following day. In Mr Jones’ contract of employment, it states that once he has worked more than 40 hours in a week, he is entitled to be paid overtime – however, he has never been paid overtime. His employer refuses to pay Mr Jones the additional pay that he is entitled to. Mr Jones has submitted a formal grievance to his employer but still he is not being paid the money due to him. Provided that Mr Jones adheres to the time limit of three months for bringing a claim, Mr Jones can bring his case to the employment tribunal. In his claim he could ask to be paid all outstanding overtime owed to him.

A new guide on managing bereavement in the workplace has been published by workplace expert Acas.

A consultation has been launched this week to investigate the best way of proceeding to eradicate the problem of exclusivity clauses in zero hour contracts.

An interim report published by the Scottish Affairs Parliamentary Committee has found there is much to be done to protect people on zero hours contracts in Scotland. Although it is recognised that zero hours contracts and other forms of casual labour can benefit workers and employers, the Committee finds that in the majority of cases zero hours contracts need not, and should not, be used at all.

The CIPD has recommended that the Government ban employers from using exclusivity clauses for zero hours contract workers unless they can demonstrate a compelling business reason for using them.