A test case known as Heydey, is being heard at the European Court of Justice in July 98. 

 If successful it could establish that employees have the right to work beyond the age of 65.  At present the right is to "request" to work beyond the age of 65, but Heyday could change this, and therefore affecting millions of employees approaching 65 who may want to continue working.

 Heydey is an arm of Age Concern and they are seeking to determine that a mandatory retirement age contraveners EU law.

Updates will be posted once an outcome is known.

With effect from 1st October 2008, the National Minimum Wage rates will increase as follows:-

Ages 16 + 17  increases to £3.53 per hour

Ages 18 - 21 increases to £4.77 per hour

Age 22 + increases to £5.73 per hour

With effect from 6 April 2008, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations have been changed and employers will now be breaking the law if they fail to take action when they are aware an employee has been sexually harassed during the course of their employment from a third party, and that such harassment has occured on at least two other occasions.

Liability for third party sexual harassment will arise when an employer, (a) knows an employee has been harassed at work on at least 2 earlier occasions by a third party and (b) has not taken such steps that are reasonably practicable to prevent the harassment from happening again.

The harassment does not necessarily have to stem from the same source.

Employers must be seen to take preventative action.  New procedures could include specifying in their standard business terms that customers and suppliers must take all steps to prevent harassment occurring and also to remove a harasser from a contract on demand.

Additionally a person may now also bring a sexual harassment claim when they may not have been personally subjected to unwanted conduct themselves but that the effect of harassment towards another person violates their dignity or creates an intimidating environment for them.

With effect from 1st February 2008, the maximum limit on the value of a week's pay under the statutory redundancy payments scheme increased from £310 to £330 per week and the maximum amount of statutory guarantee pay increased from £19.60 to £20.40 for each workless day.

Furthermore the maximum limit in an Employment Tribunal Award for unfair dismissal increased from £58,400 to £60,600.

With effect from 6th April 2008 the rates of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £112.75 to £117.18 per week and the standard rate of statutory sick pay will increase from 72.55 to £75.40 per week. The weekly earnings threshold for the above payments will increase from £87.00 to £90.00.

The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007 come into effect on 1st October 2007. These Regulations provide for an increase in the minimum amount of paid holidays that all employees will be entitled to.

The current minimum entitlement of 4 weeks per annum is being increased to 4.8 weeks per annum. This means that for employees with a five day working week their minimum entitlement will increase from 20 days to 24 days each holiday year. It should be remembered that this entitlement includes customary public holidays, and is not in addition to them.

If an employer’s holiday year runs from 1st January to 31st December it means that for employees working five days per week they will have a total minimum holiday entitlement of 21 days this year. This takes account of the increase effective from 1st October 2007. For the last quarter of the year they will be entitled to one quarter of the new additional entitlement of 4 days, giving them one extra day for this year alone. Thereafter the minimum entitlement will be 24 days.

A further increase in entitlement is planned to be introduced from 1st April 2009, when the minimum will increase to 28 days per year. Once again however this will include customary public holidays.

There is no requirement for employers to increase annual holiday entitlement for their employees if their existing contractual holiday entitlement is equal to or more than the new minimum levels.

Employers should review their contracts and Employee Handbooks to ensure they are legally compliant, or if they need to be updated.

The long awaited Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 came into force in November 2006. The new regulations combine three sets of existing regulations which are; The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, The Asbestos (Licencing) Regulations 1983, as amended; and the amended Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1992 (Prohibitions Regulations).

By consolidating all the requirements into one set of regulations the Health & Safety Executive believe it will be easier for all those with responsibility for employee safety to apply the new law. Failure to comply will be treated seriously and will result in large fines and even jail sentences for those who do not.

With effect from 1st October 2007 the National Minimum Wage rates are as follows:

16-17 years of age   £3.40
18 - 21 years  £4.60
22+  £5.52

These rates do not apply to those taking apprenticeships.

With effect from 1st October 2006 the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations made it unlawful to discriminate against workers (i.e employees, job seekers and trainees) because of their age.

A significant change introduced by the Regulations will mean that with effect from 1st October 2006 the age cap of 65 for an unfair dismissal claim to be brought before an Employment Tribunal was removed.

Employers need to be aware that they could be responsible for the acts of employees who discriminate on the grounds of age. This makes it important to ensure staff are made aware of the new regulations.

Smoking is banned in all enclosed public places, and this also includes company vehicles.  This legislation was introduced on 1st July 2007 in England this follows on from the ban in Ireland and Wales which was enforced from 2nd April 2007.

Employers need to ensure they are aware of the Smoke Free (Premises and Enforcement) Regulations in advance of these dates to ensure they don't end up with a fine which could be up to £2,500!