ODI reports
The Government's Office for Disability Issues (ODI) has published its first report, setting out the action that it has taken since it was set up in December 2005.
The main body of the report looks at:
- the overall strategy of the ODI
- progress made towards equality for disabled people since the “Life Chances” report
- priorities for future action.
The second part of the report shows a shorter set of summary tables, which set out specific initiatives that are underway in direct response to the recommendations in the Life Chances report (see LELR 114).
To download copies of the report, go to: www.officefordisability.gov.uk/docs/annual_report_06/pdfs/ar_main.pdf.
Hard copies in other formats are available on request from office-for-disability-issues@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.
All in the mind?
Workers are being asked to give their views on the ups and downs of working life in a national survey.
The 24-7 survey is an annual research project conducted by the Work Life Balance Centre, Keele University and Coventry University.
The researchers want employees to share their good and bad experiences in an attempt to discover more information about the true nature of modern working life.
Each year the results are collated into a final report that is disseminated to around 3,000 companies, universities, business support organisations and workplaces all over the world. The survey was launched at the end of September, and is available for completion until mid November.
Go to: www.worklifebalancecentre.org/ 2006/stage1.php to take part.
Action plan for women
Following the publication of the Women and Work Commission report earlier this year, the Government has published an action plan to tackle barriers to women’s achievement in the workplace identified in the report.
The plan proposes a number of measures including:
- an “Exemplar Employer Initiative” to develop programmes with employers, such as helping women who return from work to access quality part-time work, to encourage flexible working for women and to set up job share registers
- the roll-out of new “equality reps” to step up awareness among workers of flexible working rights and discrimination issues
- a new “equality check” to help companies spot any emerging problems with equal treatment of staff
- a national education standard in schools to step up cultural change by making girls aware of non-traditional career opportunities
- a half a million pound fund to support companies and organisations to increase the number of senior roles available part time.
Vulnerable workers
One in five workers can be classed as vulnerable and subject to exploitation, according to a report written for the TUC by the independent Policy Studies Institute called The Hidden One-in-Five – Winning a Fair Deal for Britain's Vulnerable Workers.
The report uses official statistics to show that around 5.3 million workers earn below one third of the median hourly wage and do not have a trade union to negotiate their terms and conditions, and are therefore vulnerable to exploitation.
Recommendations for future action include:
- support for, and early implementation of, the EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive
- introduce licensing for all employment agencies, similar to that for gangmasters
- modernise the law on employment status so that agency, casual and other vulnerable workers have employee status with contracts of employment and entitlement to statutory employment rights
- improve enforcement of employment rights such as the minimum wage
- extend union recognition rights to small employers
- step up union work to organise and represent vulnerable workers.
For a copy: www.tuc.org.uk/theme/index.cfm?theme=oneinfive
Lack of sleep caused depression
A North East factory worker who was left disabled after working night shifts, was discriminated against by his employers, a tribunal has found. Craig Routledge became depressed after working alternate day and night shifts for TRW Systems in Washington.
The punishing routine left him registered disabled after the sleep deprivation caused him to become depressed. A Newcastle employment tribunal upheld claims of disability discrimination brought against TRW Systems by Craig’s union, the GMB and their lawyers, Thompsons Solicitors.
The tribunal ruled that the company, which manufactures car parts, had indirectly discriminated against Craig’s disability by not giving him assurances that they would provide a full time day job for him after he became too ill to work nights.
It also ruled that TRW Systems had discriminated against his disability by not offering to make adjustments in the work place to allow him to return to work.
For more details, go to: https://www.thompsonstradeunion.law/news/news-releases/employment-matters/disabled-factory-worker-discriminated-against
By way of compensation
Trade unions are being consulted on the draft code of practice of the Compensation Act.
Unions are exempt from regulation under the Act, but will have to comply with the code to remain unregulated. This means that unions will be able to continue to offer high quality legal services to members.
The draft code is a relatively light touch and gives unions the right to give impartial advice about whether to pursue a claim. It does not allow them to give advice to an individual based on an assessment of the best interests of the collective.
However, the proposed definition of member as “full” or “retired” may prevent their offering legal services to other categories of members and to family members. Unions want this changed so the definition is according to their rule books. The Compensation Act forces claims management firms to apply for authorisation to operate and to adhere to rules on conduct and accounts.
Transsexual pension
A male to female transsexual who claimed she was entitled to a state pension at age 60, rather than 65, has won her case at the European Court of Human Rights.
The ECHR decided in Grant -v- United Kingdom that, by refusing to grant her a pension at 60, UK law was incompatible with article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – the right to respect for private and family life.
Following gender reassignment surgery, Ms Grant asked for her state pension to start on 22 December 1997, her 60th birthday. She was told, however, that because her birth certificate identified her as male, she was not entitled to receive a pension until 65.
After the court decided in Goodwin -v- United Kingdom that post-operative transsexuals were entitled to have their change of gender recognised by law, Ms Grant asked for that decision to be applied to her case. She succeeded, but only with effect from 2002, by which time she was only a few months off 65.
Long road to equal pay
It is unusual for the European Court of Justice to disagree with the opinion of the Advocate General, but it has just done so in the case of Cadman -v- Health and Safety Executive (LELR 95 and 113).
The court ruled that employers do not have to objectively justify differences in pay that stem from the use of “length of service” as a criterion in their pay system. This was because rewarding experience was a legitimate objective that enabled workers to do their job better.
Employers would only have to justify the criterion if a worker could provide evidence that raised serious doubts about whether it was an appropriate way of rewarding experience.
Mrs Cadman brought a claim for equal pay against her employer, relying on four male comparators who were all on the same grade as her, but paid substantially more. They had all worked for the HSE for longer than her.
As the proportion of men with longer service was greater than that of women, Mrs Cadman claimed that the use of length of service as a determinant of pay was indirectly discriminatory against her and that her employer should be required to justify it objectively.
We will cover this decision in more detail in the next issue of LELR.
Ready Reckoner
With the introduction of the age regulations on 1 October, the upper age limit on unfair dismissal and redundancy was removed, as well as the lower age limit for redundancy pay.
The DTI has introduced a “ready reckoner” to help employees calculate the amount of statutory redundancy pay to which they are entitled, depending on whether they were made redundant before or after 1 October.
Those made redundant before the introduction of the regulations should go to: www.dti.gov.uk/employment/ employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page27698.html
Those made redundant after 1 October should go to: www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page33157.html