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Changes to rights of employees on additional maternity or additional adoption leave
Employees who are to give birth or adopt on or after the 5 October 2008 will be affected by the alterations to the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2008.
These provide for:
The rights and obligations of employees during Additional Maternity Leave "AML" and Additional Adoption Leave "AAL" to be brought in line with the rights and obligations existing during Ordinary Maternity Leave "OML" and Ordinary Adoption Leave "OAL".
This essentially means that terms and conditions enjoyed during OML or OAL will continue during AML and AAL. Currently an Employee on OML or OAL has a statutory right to benefit from their terms and conditions of Employment had they been at work, save for remuneration.
In practice this means that if an Employer removes benefits such as a company car, gym membership or health insurance currently available throughout OML during AML they may face claims for discrimination.
In addition contractual annual leave over and above the working time minimum will continue to accrue throughout additional leave.
The seniority and pension rights of employees returning from AML and AAL will be the same as those returning from OML and OAL. Currently continuous service will continue under OML, but not AML, for the purposes of any contractual entitlements based on length of service.
There has been debate over whether pension contributions fall outside the definition of "remuneration" and therefore contributions should be maintained during OML and OAL, and possibly additional leave. Unfortunately, the regulations do not address this and guidance from BERR is unclear about the issue.
It is arguable from the case of Boyle v Equal Opportunities Commission (1998 IRLR 717), that pension benefits should be maintained throughout OML and additional leave. However this case concerned a non-contributory occupational final salary scheme and therefore it is open to debate what would happen in cases of pension schemes where the Employee is required to make contributions. In particular is the Employee required to continue making these contributions, if so how are those contributions to be calculated if the Employee is not receiving any pay?
If you require any advice on any of the issues raised in these articles please do not hesitate to
contact our employment team at noremp@steeleslaw.co.uk. or on 01603 598000.
Changes to Income Tax with effect from 7 September 2008
It has been announced, that there are to be changes to the income tax provisions, with effect from 7 September 2008.
These changes which will be back-dated to 6 April 2008 will see:
An increase in the personal allowance for the 2008 to 2009 tax year from £5,435.00 to £6,035.00
The reduction in the basic rate tax band from £36,000.00 to £34,800.00.
National Insurance rates and thresholds will remain unchanged.
Employers should be aware if the PAYE amounts they collect are less than the PAYE refunds they will need to pay out to employees, they can recover these extraordinary refunds from Her Majesties Revenue and Customs and should contact them accordingly. Guidance can be obtained from www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/ee-tax-refund
Up-date and the Government's Consultation on flexible working
Further to our previous e-news in which we covered the topic of flexible working, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulation Reform issued a press release on 26th August indicating its intentions to consult with employer and employee representatives, parents, unions, business and family organisations, regarding the extension and alteration to the current rights to request flexible working.
Following on from consideration by the government of the recommendations made by Ms Walsh in her recent report, they have announced that they intend to extend the right to request flexible working.
The Employment Relations Minister, Pat McFadden has commented that "Parenting requirements don't end
as children get older. We think it is right to extend this successful scheme and help parents of older children
access the flexibility they need".
The Consultation will consider:
Extending the right to request flexible working to parents with children who are 16 or under;
Ways of raising awareness of the rights to request flexible working to employees. An awareness campaign will be aimed at those with little knowledge of the right to request flexible working such as fathers or carers;
Ensuring businesses are aware of the assistance available to them in dealing with requests for flexible working, making these requests easier and quicker for them to deal with. This will include consideration of abolishing the current requirement for employers to write formally to employees advising them that their flexible working request has been accepted. This would be replaced with a right to receive written confirmation if specifically requested by the employee. The obligation to write to an employee will not however be removed where an employer refuses the request for flexible working.
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