Paul Griffin, Amanda Sanders and Joanna MacKenzie consider how to handle disciplinary and dismissal matters, and the additional requirements that employers should consider in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the future workplace. This article was originally published in PLC Magazine The PDF is available: Disciplinary actions and dismissals PDF…

Joanna MacKenzie has written an article on hybrid working and issues that employers need to consider before implementing new ways of working. This article was originally published in PLC Magazine The PDF is available: Hybrid working after COVID-19 PDF…

On June 10, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a mandatory workplace safety rule requiring employers to take specified steps to protect workers from COVID-19.  However, the rule applies only to health care settings.  Referred to as an emergency temporary standard (ETS), the rule exempts fully vaccinated workers from masking, distancing, and barrier requirements when in well-defined areas where there is no reasonable expectation that any person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19…

SafeWork NSW has approved Australia’s first Work Health and Safety (WHS) Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work (the Code). The Code took effect on 28 May 2021. The WHS Act provides that an approved code of practice is admissible in Court proceedings as evidence of whether or not a duty or obligation under the WHS Act has been complied with. A Court may have regard to an approved code of practice as…

“Long Covid” (or “post-Covid-19 syndrome”) is a condition where people who have contracted Covid-19 continue to experience symptoms for weeks or even months after their initial infection.  It affects individuals differently, and symptoms can range from fatigue, headaches, loss of taste or smell, lasting fever or anxiety, to respiratory difficulties, muscle weakness, blood clots and even organ damage. The Office for National Statistics in the UK reported in April 2021 that an estimated 1.1 million…

The National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health will conduct a virtual meeting on June 22, 2021, to address current workplace issues and its prior work.  The details are set forth in today’s U.S. Department of Labor announcement.  The DOL and federal OSHA have been shifting priorities since the initiation of the Biden Administration, and are now focusing on enhanced workplace health and safety inspections and enforcement, notably including COVID-related worker protection issues. …

In the case of Price v Powys County Council, the Employment Appeal Tribunal have upheld the tribunal’s decision that there is no sex discrimination where an employer pays a man on shared parental leave less than a woman on adoption leave. In the UK, Shared Parental Leave (SPL) provides flexibility for parents to take leave to care for their child. Eligible parents can take up to 50 weeks  SPL in the first year after the…