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January, 2009
New Compensation Limits
Come into force on 1st February 2009
How not to be in when you are actually out !!
Out-of-Office Replies (OOOR) can be a useful tool.
Discrimination against people from Brighton.....
How a straight man won a case under the Sexual Orientation Regulations
Dear Picasso HR
Yesterday Tom stormed out of the building.........
The new compensation limits are due to come into force on 1st February 2009 and increase amounts payable by employers in a number of areas. The changes that will affect most employers are: - the upper weekly earnings limit for calculating redundancy payments will increase from £330 to £350.
- the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase from £63,000 to £66,200.
- the minimum basic compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increased from £4,400 to £4,700 .
- Guaranteed pay for periods of lay off will rise from £20.40 per day to £21.50 per day.
The new rates will apply to events that occur on or following the 1st February 2009. Where the event happens before this date the old rates will continue to apply.
So - what are OOOR's ? Well, most email programs let you set an automatic reply for when you are not able (or willing) to log in and peruse your emails. It’s a short, informative message saying where you are and when you will be back etc. Some systems are even smart enough to remind you, when you return, that you currently have OOOR turned on and you now might like to cancel it. Others don’t bother and you will appear still to be enjoying your Christmas break sometime well into February. The jury’s still out on whether an OOOR is good or bad. It seems like a great idea. A reply should (if configured properly) only go out once to each sender so they won’t be bombarded every time they send you something. I am never sure why this is necessary because if they got your first OOOR, why would they continue sending other stuff to you when you are clearly not going to answer for a while ? In any case if you have a policy of, say, answering 90% of emails within 2 working days, an OOOR alone will not help to maintain this practice though it might be good (n)etiquette.
There is debate about whether your reply should go to senders who are external to your company – OOOR’s are good for internal use – but when applied to external emails they can cause all sorts of trouble. If you receive spam emails, your OOOR will confirm your email address and this will generate more spam. If your customer receives a reply it may not be what they expected to hear from you, or your company.
A reply containing a long list of other employees and their email / phone contact details along with how they each might be able to help, is effectively a mini-directory of your company (or ALL of your company if you are relatively small). Giving out valid email addresses in this way is never a good idea. Even worse, at peak times of holidays it is almost inevitable that one of the other people in your list will ALSO be away – and will have switched on their reply too. Now that’s really annoying for even the most patient of senders – especially when the other person’s OOOR says that YOU will be able to assist during THEIR absence !
A reply containing your whereabouts, and timescales, can be an open invitation to some less reputable people. If they have your address (say from a Companies House document) then they know you are away from home. If you say your place of work is “Closed for Christmas, re-opening first week in January” then your premises are vulnerable especially if your company name and location is at the bottom of your reply. There is also a likelihood of social engineering attacks against you (via your IT support helpdesk) whilst you are away - leading to password resets and someone else accessing your files or email and acting as you.
So, if you must use OOOR, a brief reply stating that “you will not be answering emails until a certain date” (without broadcasting where you are or why) and politely requesting that “if it is a really urgent business matter” the sender re-sends the email to a role-based email address (such as enquiries @ . co . uk) means that someone else with access to that mailbox can deal with enquiries quickly on your behalf. It will also filter out any non-urgent emails where the sender does not bother to pursue your suggestion.
If you really have to use your OOOR to direct the sender to someone else in your organisation, do not give out phone numbers and email addresses – just mention the person who will be able to assist. Any sender who knows you will be able to get in contact with them either by phone or will have their email address already. After all, if you were expecting the sender to contact you, then you would probably have told them that you are away until a certain date as part of your ongoing discussions with them.
Alternatively, set your OOOR to say that “emails, provided they do not contain the word PERSONAL in the subject field, are being automatically forwarded to who will be dealing with them in your absence” and then set up a rule to do the forwarding (don’t forget to inform the person beforehand) – but do remember to delete the rule when you return as no-one will remind you it is still active (except perhaps the poor soul who is receiving your forwarded email in addition to their own !)
If you wish to be more economical at the expense of appearing blunt you could try something like :
Long absence e-mail POLICY
Upon my return :
- I will read e-mails with the words “PERSONAL” or “URGENT” in the subject, or flagged as Important.
- I will not read any e-mails CC’ed to me.
- I may read other e-mails if time permits but there may be a delay.
And finally, the internet is full of humorous examples of OOORs – with apologies to whoever originally wrote them – there are dozens of variations on the same theme.
- I am currently at an interview. I will only reply to this email if I fail to get the job.
- You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, the chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all from me.
- I am not really out of the office – I am just ignoring your emails.
- I will be unable to delete emails until I return. Please be patient. Your email will be deleted in the order it was received.
- Thank you for your email. We value all emails that we receive. It is being held in a queue and you are currently in 395th place. You can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
- Hi, I'm currently thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.
- I'm sorry I can't reply right now. I'm not actually away - I'm just hiding from someone and pretending to be away. If it's not you that I'm hiding from, I will reply in due course.
Remember that whilst these may raise a smile or two, do be aware that if you use this kind of OOOR it will automatically be sent to everyone who emails you when you are away.
www.picassohr.com/security
The recent case of English v. Thomas Sanderson Ltd has overturned our previous understanding of discrimination laws in relation to sexual orientation. Mr. English is heterosexual and was known to his colleagues to be straight. However, he suffered years of homophobic teasing from colleagues, who accused him of being gay because he lived in Brighton and had attended a boarding school. The taunting including abusive name-calling and having jokes made at his expense by colleagues. Homophobic jokes identifying him were even printed in an official staff newsletter on several occasions. Mr English eventually resigned claiming harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation. He took his case first to the Employment Tribunal and then to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Both courts found that the legislation preventing harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation did not apply to him because he was straight. However, Mr English persevered and the Court of Appeal overturned the previous decisions, thereby considerably widening the scope of employees who are protected under the legislation. This decision has had a similar impact to that of Coleman v Attridge Law, where the courts found that an employee who was not disabled herself but cared for her disabled son was covered by the Disability Discrimination laws. So, what does the English v Thomas Sanderson case mean for your business?
The definition of harassment covers the situation where a person engages in unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of –
(a) violating another person’s dignity; or
(b) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person.
The intention of the alleged harasser is irrelevant - if the behaviour is unwanted and distresses the victim, it is likely to be judged as harassment, even if the perpetrator only saw it as harmless fun. The onus is therefore on managers to create and maintain an environment in which all employees are treated with respect. Managers should discourage banter which could be deemed offensive and should be conscious of the responsibility to act as role models themselves. With discrimination laws now covering race, age, sex, religion, disability and sexual orientation, there seem to be few safe areas left for the office comedian.
Worried about being tarred as a spoil sport? Seems like you can't have fun in the office anymore? Just bear in mind that the damages in harassment and discrimination cases are uncapped. As the scope of discrimination cases is widened by the courts to include harassment by association, suddenly harmless office fun is starting to look a lot more serious........
Dear Picasso HR, Yesterday Tom stormed out of the building leaving a long rambling letter about a whole load of stuff to do with his employment and saying he never coming back. Frankly I’m glad to see the back of him as he’s been a pain for the entire 13 months he’s worked for us. I take it that’s the end of the matter and as he didn’t serve his notice I don’t have to pay him this month? Yours sincerely Des Perate
Dear Des, Well, there are a number of issues here that need to be dealt with: 1. His letter complaining about his employment with you automatically triggers the grievance procedure. You would normally follow the full statutory grievance procedure if he was still in your employment and you have 28 days in which to do this. However, as Tom has already left you will need to do the following: - Normally you would discuss the grievance(s) with the employee at a meeting. As Tom has left, we would suggest that you write to him giving him the opportunity of attending a meeting or give his permission for you to follow the modified grievance procedure. This means you can investigate this matter without a meeting with him. The chances are in this case that Tom will not want to attend, especially if he is upset and angry.
- You need to investigate each complaint and respond to Tom in writing, within 28 days from the date of his resignation, allowing him the right of appeal against your conclusions. Usually the appeal will be to someone more senior than the person who investigated the grievance. If you are the only manager (as this can happen in small companies), then consider using the services of an experienced HR consultant for investigation to bring impartiality and objectivity.
- If you fail to follow this procedure, then Tom can make a constructive dismissal claim to an employment tribunal against you, as he has over 12 months’ service.
Payment: Strictly speaking Tom has breached his contract by not working his notice. You could try and claim breach of contract in a small claims court but the chances are that the cost of pursuing a claim will outweigh the loss. What you do need to do is pay Tom what he is owed up to the date he resigned and also pay him any other payments due such as accrued holiday not taken. Yours Sincerely Picasso HR PS If you need assistance in investigating disciplinary or grievance cases call us on 01473 890037 for that all important professional and objective input.
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