Employment Law: Attendance Rewards - Legal Ramifications

If you were thinking of offering your employees special rewards as incentives for having good attendance records, then you must read on. In fact, employers that offer attendance bonuses may find themselves falling foul of the law.

The Royal Mail introduced a rewards scheme for staff that did not to take time off sick. Under the Royal Mail's scheme, workers with full attendance records were entered into a prize draw to win Ford Focus cars or holiday vouchers worth ยฃ2,000. As a staff incentive, it seemed to work. The Royal Mail says its overall sickness absence levels fell during a nine-month period (between August and April) by 11%.

However, such schemes could have serious ramifications from a legal viewpoint, and leave employers vulnerable to a variety of legal claims.

Discrimination

Employees could bring discrimination claims on the grounds of disability or sex. The success of these claims would depend on each employee's particular circumstances and needs, whether in relation to their family, religion or health. Alternatively, qualifying employees could bring claims for being subjected to detriment treatment as a result of asserting their statutory rights, for example, for:-

Time off for dependants and antenatal care; Time off for study or training or time off for jury service Maternity leave; Adoption leave; or Paternity or parental leave;

Disability discrimination may occur if, for example, an employee had time off connected to a disability and this was not taken into account by the employer under the reward scheme. The employee might claim that the failure of the employer to set aside his/her absence for disability related reasons amounted to less favourable treatment. How can employers protect themselves from such claims?

Employers can avoid these pitfalls by including a list of exceptions in the reward scheme, for example, jury service or study leave, taking into account any statutory rights to time off; or Pay bonuses to employees connected to performance in their job rather than implementing an attendance reward. Employers should be wary of adopting an attendance bonus scheme without legal consultation.

If you require further information contact us.

Email: enquiries@rtcoopers.com

ยฉ RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

Employment solicitors in London,employment law, Employment Lawyers, employment law firm, Redundancies, Unfair Dismissals, Breach of Contract, Workplace Disputes, TUPE Transfers, Drafting Employment Contracts, Grievance Procedures, Disciplinary Procedures, Maternity Rights,Discrimination, Employment Disputes, Suspensions, Wrongful Sismissal,Equal Pay, Media Copyright.

If you require further information email us at enquiries@rtcoopers.com. Visist our website at http://www.rtcoopers.com

RELATED ARTICLES

I Just Lost My Job: How Am I Going To Tell My Kids?
One of the responsibilities of a human resources professional is to let employees know that their job has been eliminated. It is seldom easy to do and often painful for the person who is hearing the news.

Telecommuting Website (Part One)
"I've heard you talk about building a website to get telecommuting jobs. Can you tell me more about this, and how I would do it?"

Alert! An Over-50 Jobseeker Has Just Entered the Building
Interviewing Tips for the Older Job-seeking Population

Protect Your Business by Performing a Background Check
The success of a business endeavor involves a concerted efforts of financing, strategic planning, product design or service positioning, marketing, sales, and customer support. One of most important aspects of doing business is the people you deal with everyday - your employees, your partners and your competitors. Whether you are a small business owner or a human resource manager of a large corporation, you want to make sure that you hire responsible employees, you deal with trustful partners, and you may even want to learn more about your competitors.

Acceptance is the Answer to All Our Problems
Many people today have lost jobs after decades of service; many others suffer within jobs they can see no way out of. In order to survive a painful job loss ? indeed, any type of painful loss ? we must come to some acceptance. How does one find acceptance amidst the humiliation, shame, despair, fear, grief and uncertainty job loss can invoke?

Your Job Search Is A Marketing Campaign (Part 2)
Here's a continuation of my article from a few months back on how the successful job search is really just a personal marketing campaign.

How To Stay Calm in Tryng Times
That's not you? Great! Bad habits are hard to break once the addiction gets hold of us. Been there. Gave up "smokes" long years ago but it took lots of willpower to kick the habit.

What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
The fastest way to make a good interview go bad is to avoid questions posed by the hiring manager. The one question candidates love to avoid is, "What is your greatest weakness?" Most candidates are quick to respond with superficial answers such as "I'm a workaholic" or "I'm a perfectionist." Not only are those responses boring, but they are also predictable answers interviewers are used to hearing. So much so that an interviewer's comeback line often is, "That doesn't sound like a weakness. Now why don't you tell me about a real weakness?"

Auto-Disqualification - When Your Resume Never Reaches the Decision Maker
How would you know if your resume did or didn't reach the appropriate decision maker? You can truly never know for certain. However, there are steps you can take to ensure that your resume does not get "auto-disqualified", or provide obvious reasons not to be hired.

Is Your Career Your Calling or Just a 9 to 5?
Do you remember your parents asking you what you want to be when you grow up? By the time I was in the 9th grade, my mother started asking me that same question until I graduated from high school. At that time I wasn't 100% sure what career path I would take, but I had several ideas.

Workplace 911
I've watched a few episodes of Nanny 911 and with the chaos, out of control children and seemingly irreparable behavior, it strikes me as a precursor to Workplace 911. No, not a new reality TV show, but everyday workplace problems.

Telecommuting Website (Part Two)
Last article I discussed why a telecommuter would benefit from starting a website, and what you should include on the website. This article, I'm going to cover how to market the website and the basics of getting one set up.

Tips for Handling On the Job Setbacks
If you've chosen a business career, you will inevitably experience some type of setback. And whether your pet project is canceled, your performance review is a bust, you get turned down for a promotion, or you're asked to leave the company, setbacks hurt big time. Nevertheless, if you start thinking of yourself as a victim or allow yourself to lapse into prolonged negativity, you won't be hurting anyone except yourself. Worrying until you get sick, abusing drugs or denying that you've reached an impasse won't help either. The best strategy for making a comeback is to recognize the reality of the situation, acknowledge your feelings and find a way to cope productively. Here are some other tips you might find helpful:

The Springtime of Your Career
Rick Jarow, author of Creating the Work You Love, introduced many of us to the notion of career seasons. When we're struggling with a career, we're most likely to think of winter. At some point a career change (or other transition) feels like being buried under a coat of ice, hibernating through long, dark days. Hopefully we learn to see the beauty of winter -- sun on the snow, clear air, the bare outlines of trees denied their leafy cover-ups.

20 Powerful Tips For Advancing Your Career
You don't want to stay in your current position forever... you want to move up! Here are 20 ways to boost your chances of getting that nice promotion:

How To Get A Job Fast
In today's unpredictable economy, the idea of job security with any company would seem to be a thing of the past. Large company layoffs, golden handshakes, mergers, leveraged buyouts, company acquisitions and similar business moves have left people of all ages out of a job they need to live.

What Can I Do To Improve My Job-Interviewing Skills?
Whether you're a student job seeker or a polished and proven executive, the first thing you must come to terms with is, "Regardless of the position you seek, you are now in sales!" The product you are selling is YOU! The interview is your opportunity to differentiate yourself in the eyes of your customer [the interviewer] when compared to your competitors [other job applicants].

Offer Letter Limbo
Recently we concluded the placement of a Senior Sales Representative for a publicly traded company. The role was ripe with potential as the company products were being widely embraced by current and new customers. The recruiting process went smoothly as the candidate progressed through several rounds of face to face interviews with company executives.

Skills Make Labor More Valuable
As you know by now, if you have been a long time subscriber to our weekly E-zine, I'm a very big proponent of activity, labor and discipline. In fact I devoted one of the five major pieces to the life puzzle (in my book under the same name) to the subject of activity and labor. But now let me add another key word to the labor equation - skillful. Yes, skillful labor.

Dissatisfied With Your Job? Stop Putting Your Attention on What You Dont Want!
If I were to ask you the percentage of time you spend thinking about what you don't want, what would it be? And the percentage of time thinking about what you do want?

Home |Site Map