Welcome to the December 2006 edition HR e-ssentials, the monthly e-zine from Graphite HRM on developments in people management and labour law practice.
Graphite Events |
| Implementing Contracts |
Managing Dignity |
| Train
the Designated |
One day workshop 8th Feb 2007 |
| Investigator
Training
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To make an enquiry, or to book a place on any of Graphite HRM's workshops info@graphitehrm.com. |
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| Tell your friends and colleagues about HR e-ssentials. Thank you! |
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you
for your support in 2006 and wish you
a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
In place of Christmas Cards, Graphite has made
a donation to the Simon Community.
Our
offices will be closed from December 22nd 2006
until January 2rd 2007
Graphite Announcements
- Next Update of Personnel Policies and Procedures: the Law in Perspective distributed
- Graphite Wall Planner 2007
Graphite Events
- Train the Designated Contact Person – One day workshop, 18th January 2007
- Investigator Training - Two day workshop, 24th & 25th January 2007
- Managing Dignity and Respect – Half day workshop 1st Feb 2007
- Implementing Contracts of Employment - Half day workshop 1st Feb 2007
- Selection Interviewing – One day workshop 8th Feb 2007
As part of our quality commitment, places are limited on all workshops. For further information, or to make a booking, please contact Fran us on 01– 6627099 or fran.graydon@graphitehrm.com
Next Update of Personnel Policies and Procedures: the Law in Perspective distributed
We are pleased to announce that this week you should receive your next update to Personnel Policies and Procedures: the Law in Perspective, update 3.5, Leave of Absence. As you are aware from our monthly e-zine, there have been changes to maternity, adoptive, parental, force majeure and carer’s leave entitlements. These are all incorporated into Update 3.5, and the revised Chapter takes account of the upcoming maternity and adoptive leave changes effective from 1st March 2007.
Once you have inserted the update into your manual, please go to www.graphitehrm.com to confirm that you have received it. Simply click on Receipt of Update on the home page, and fill in your details. This is important to help us maintain our records, and also makes it easy for you to update your contact details if necessary.
Updated CD-ROMs will be circulated in January to customers who avail of this service.
As part of our customer care initiative, we have distributed a Graphite 2007 Wall Planner to all our customers of Personnel Policies and Procedures: the Law in Perspective. This includes details of Graphite’s programme of public events for 2007, and will help you plan for the year ahead
Our schedule introduces several exiting new workshops, and allows you to select the dates that suit you best over the coming months. Should you wish to receive a copy, please contact info@graphitehrm.com.
Below are details of Graphite public workshops early in the New Year. For further information, or to make a booking, please visit www.graphitehrm.com or contact Fran on 01– 6627099 or fran.graydon@graphitehrm.com. As part of our quality commitment, places are limited on all workshops, so we recommend you book early.
Train the Designated Contact Person – One day workshop, 18th January 2007
A support contact person helps an organisation to manage the risk of bullying or harassment complaints more effectively. This workshop provides the knowledge and expertise in how to handle queries and support individuals who feel they are being harassed, sexually harassed or bullied at work. This workshop is specifically provided for persons, designated under their organisation’s policy, to be a “Contact Person”. It examines
- The legal implications of workplace bullying, harassment and sexual harassment
- The role of policy and procedure in maintaining a positive environment
- The role of the contact person, responsibilities and boundaries
- The complaints process
- Dealing with scenarios faced by Support Contact people
Investigator Training - Two day workshop, 24th & 25th January 2007
The programme provides delegates with the expertise to effectively carry out investigations of bullying, harassment or sexual harassment, taking account of legal requirements and the rights of the complainant, and respondent. Delegates will learn the skills of conducting investigation interviews in line with current best practice, organisation policies and legal requirements. It will cover:
- Equality and health and safety legislation and codes of practice
- Policy and procedural requirements
- Update on recent cases in these areas
- Details of the investigation procedure
- Steps in how to plan and structure investigation interviews
- Practical advice for conducting investigation interviews, questioning techniques, note taking
- Skills practice
- How to conclude and report on an investigation
Managing Dignity and Respect in the Workplace – Half day workshop 1st Feb 2007
This update provides a clear understanding of what is needed to maintain and manage dignity in the workplace. It brings into focus the issue of discrimination and how to avoid it, and how to establish a working environment free from bullying, harassment or sexual harassment. It explains
- hHw Irish legislation impacts on an organisation’s policies and procedures
- What should be in a policy and how it should be communicated
- What are a manager’s responsibilities how they should act if a team member complains
- What are an employee’s responsibilities
- Why employees don’t complain
- Updates on recent case law in these areas and lessons learned
Contracts of Employment - Half day workshop 1st Feb 2007
This workshop addresses issues and questions in relation to contracts of employment. It identifies minimum legal requirements, the use of sample clauses to cover individual circumstances and provides a framework for managing conditions of employment. It will provide
- Employer obligations regarding contracts of employment
Overview of the minimum legal requirements, and expressed and implied elements - Fixed term and specific purpose contracts
- Atypical of contracts and clauses
- Contracts for existing staff and amending terms and conditions of employment
Selection Interviewing – One day workshop 8th Feb 2007
Recruitment is one of the most exposed areas of the employment process, yet one which managers must get right to attract the required talent into the company. This workshop will equip any interviewer with the skills to successfully question and evaluate candidates and highlight the legal restrictions in relation to the recruitment process. It will provide:
- An understanding of the context in which recruitment decisions are made
- An overview of equality legislation
- The pre-selection process in term of defining requirements and identifying the essential links to the job description
- Details of the structured interview process and the skills to develop clear, behaviour / competency-based questions to provide reliable data for decision making
- Practical application of interviewing skills
- A clear method for decision making against tested criteria
Increase in National Minimum Wage from 1st Jan 2007
From January 1st 2007, the national minimum wage will increase to €8.30 per hour. On Wednesday 20th December 2006 Minister Tony Killeen T.D, Minister for Labour Affairs announced that he had accepted the Labour Court recommendation to increase the national minimum wage from 1 January, 2007 to €8.30 per hour and from 1 July, 2007 to €8.65. The Minister will give effect to the increases by Statutory Order.
Managing the Fall-out from the Christmas Party
Last month we outlined what to consider to protect the organisation against the actions of employees who may harass, sexually harass, or bully their colleagues having taken a few drinks at the Christmas party. However, issuing a statement requesting employees to behave in an appropriate manner, and making them aware of their responsibilities under your various policies and procedures, is not always enough to prevent employees from behaving inappropriately.
Where offences are committed, it is the employer who may be held liable. Therefore, it is as important to know how to handle an allegation of harassment, sexual harassment, or bullying, as it is to take steps to prevent the problem arising in the first place. Therefore you need to be aware what procedure you should follow should there be an allegation of inappropriate behaviour is made following the Christmas party, or at any other time. Cases coming through the Equality Tribunal show that it is often the failure to act promptly and appropriately on a complaint that has leads to an escalation of the issue.
In this article we present the scenario, where a staff member arrives into your office on the Monday morning following the annual Christmas party, and alleges that they were bullied/harassed by their colleagues at the party. We then walk through the steps to take to deal with the situation.
Article Location: Login to the Client Zone > Click Dignity at Work, select article from under Practical Steps
Employment Law Record Keeping and Penalties
Employers are legally required to maintain detailed records of documentation relating to the employment relationship. This will increase further in 2007, when legislation is brought in to deliver on commitments in the partnership agreement, Towards 2016.
As companies review their HR activity at the end of the year, one key element should be a review of your personnel records.
There are many pieces of Irish employment legislation, and employers are legally required to maintain records of documentation relating to workplace policies and procedures in order to prove they are complying with the provisions of these Acts. Failure to maintain accurate and up to date records for the required period is deemed an offence under these Acts and therefore will be subject to a penalty. Employers need to be aware that the cost of failing to legally comply with employment legislation relates not just to the financial cost of the penalty. The effects in terms of the real cost to a business include the loss of management time in dealing with the case and also the effect on the image of the business as employer, customer and supplier.
In this article Graphite charts the main pieces of legislation, indicates the period of time the records need to be maintained and outlines the penalties imposed for failure to adhere to the record keeping requirements.
Article Location: Login to the Client Zone > Click HR Practice, select article from under Practical Steps
For Premium and Premium Plus customers, Graphite provides a HR Consultation Service. As part of our regular monthly review in HR e-ssentials Graphite HRM provides you with an insight into the type of queries we get through this consultation service. This month there has been much attention on how best to protect employees and employers throughout the festive party season.
Q. Both Christmas Day and St. Stephens Day fall on normal weekdays this year. What is an employees'entitlement to a public holiday benefit?
The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, provides for the provision of a benefit to employees on a public holiday. All full-time employees, irrespective of length of service, are entitled to the benefit of one of the following in the event of a public holiday;
- a paid day off on the day
- a paid day off within a month of that day
- an additional day of annual leave
- an additional day’s pay
This year Christmas Day, December 25th, falls on a Monday, and St. Stephens’ Day – December 26th, falls on a Tuesday. For many employers, particularly those operating a Monday to Friday working week, business will close, and employees will not be required to attend their place of work. They will get the public holiday off, and get paid for the day.
The legislation also provides that where a full-time employee is not normally required to work on the day on which the public holiday falls, he/she will still be entitled to receive one of the benefits as outlined above for that day.
The situation for a part-time employee has also to be considered. Where a part-time employee is not normally scheduled to work on the day on which the public holiday falls, s/he is entitled to receive a benefit equivalent to 1/5th of his or her normal weekly working hours. Otherwise, s/he should receive one of the benefits outlined above.
Also bear in mind that an employee absent on annual leave retains their right to benefit from a public holiday falling during their period of leave.
Note: While December 27th may be a ‘Bank Holiday’ (i.e. banks and public offices are closed, it is not a public holiday under working time legislation).
Copyright © 2006 Graphite HRM Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Graphite HRM Ltd, Stephen's House, 7/8 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2. Tel. 353-1-6627099
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