13th January 2010
All the latest stories from the world of work
The revised Acas Code of Practice on time off for trade union duties and activities came into force on 1 January 2010, providing further advice for employers and employees and examples of good practice.
The Code provides guidance on the provision of cover when union representatives take time off, payment for time off, and the responsibilities of both line managers and union representatives in ensuring time off arrangements are effective.
Ed Sweeney, chair of Acas, said: "Union representatives play an important role in the modern workplace. To carry out their role it is however essential that union representatives receive appropriate time off.
"The new code will help both union representatives and the organisations they work for understand the law relating to time off, and also manage in a fair and effective manner the practical day-to-day issues that arise when requests for time off are made."
You can download the Code of Practice and guides to representative arrangements at www.acas.org.uk/publications
The number of people finding permanent jobs continued to rise at the end of 2009; December saw the largest rise in permanent placements in two and a half years.
The findings, published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG, were based on a survey of 400 recruitment and employment agencies. The survey also showed that demand for temporary staff had risen.
The report, which separates out employment from unemployment, suggests that confidence is returning to the jobs market, and that employers are beginning to lift hiring freezes. There was also an increase in the number of job vacancies at the end of the year.
At the same time the CIPD predicts that unemployment will peak at 2.8 million this year. Their Chief Economist, John Philpot, argues that unemployment has been lower than expected due to the actions taken by employers and employees to avoid redundancies. There is still concern, however, at the high rate of youth unemployment.
Shadow work and pensions secretary, Theresa May, criticised administrators Ernst & Young for their failure to allow time for consultation with staff over redundancies at communications company, Nortel.
Over 200 Nortel staff in Maidenhead and Belfast were told they were being made redundant without a consultation period by Ernst & Young after the company went into administration in January 2009.
Ernst & Young claim that the law allows businesses not to consult staff when the situation leading to the need for redundancies is urgent and unexpected.
Following a meeting with employees and Ernst & Young, Theresa May said: "What was of most concern in our discussion with Ernst & Young was a clear indication that they would be very happy to use this strategy again in the future.
"They showed no remorse about having used this approach and I feel the employees have been treated extremely badly."
The law requiring companies to consult over redundancies is intended to find ways to avoid redundancies, or mitigate and reduce their impact. Consultation is regarded as having positive impacts on those staff affected by redundancies as well as the remaining workforce.
