Understand regulations that aim to protect employees from unlawful acts of discrimination

Understand regulations that aim to protect employees from unlawful acts of discrimination

Understand the law about the establishment, alteration, and termination of employment contracts

Understand compliance about further regulations relevant to major areas of people’s practice

Brookes Insurance Group is an SME employing a total of 200 employees across 3 sites. They provide personal and commercial insurance to clients across the UK and have been established since 2003. The Managing Director, Pete Swales, has recently taken a step back from the organization, and Charles Haigh, the Commercial Director, has stepped into the role of running all aspects of the business. There have recently been some increased levels of turnover in certain departments, and it is causing some unrest across the business. Charles has seen a sharp upturn in people management issues and has approached a local HR Consultancy to advise on the risks and how to manage the various situations.

1. Tej works in the commercial team and has been with the organization for five years. He has always been a solid performer but recently he has started to become withdrawn at work and it has impacted both his performance and attendance. Following a series of difficult events, Tej is depressed. Tej is managed by Louise, who has worked in the organization for the last 18 months. Louise hasn’t had a 1:1 with Tej for some time and thinks ‘he’s just being moody’. She is dismissive of the absence and has just issued a first written warning for absence based on the policy triggers.

2. Sean has worked in the Finance team for the past 4 years. He is frequently off work, but his attendance has never been formally recorded nor managed, and neither has his performance. Ruby recently joined the team and at times needs to work with Sean. She noticed that there were
frequent mistakes and found herself taking on an increased workload to fix the mistakes. After speaking with colleagues, she found that this was a typical thing that happened. In the absence of any performance management, colleagues picked up the slack. Following a particularly costly error, Charles Haigh dismissed him on the spot. He was provided with his notice of pay.

3. Phil works as a Personal Lines Advisor and has been with the organization for 6 years, 4 of these in an administrative role. During one of the acquisitions, Phil was assimilated into the personal lines role and provided with some training. 6 months into the role his wife passed away and he was off work for 3 months. Since then, he has been struggling at work and this has been noticed by his manager. Phil can be challenging to manage and whilst he hasn’t been forthcoming with his manager, he has been taking anti-depressants for some time. His manager has raised performance concerns and Phil has not taken this well. During busy times his manager hasn’t always held 1:1s and whilst only a few were missed, there have been some delays in sending notes. Phil started to feel that his manager was targeting him specifically and believed the criticism

LO2: Understand regulations that aim to protect employees from unlawful acts of discrimination
LO3: Understand the law about the establishment, alteration, and termination of employment contracts
LO4: Understand compliance about further regulations relevant to major areas of people’s practice
Level 7 Advanced Diploma 6 to be unfounded. The most recent incident involved Phil’s appraisal meeting. Whilst Phil knew the rooms, they had been labeled by the facilitates team incorrectly and Phil had sat in a different (incorrect) room waiting for his manager. His manager sat in the correct room. After 45 minutes of waiting, Phil’s manager returned to the main office, followed closely by Phil, who shouted about his manager leaving him waiting, before announcing to everyone that he was having his leaving drinks that evening. The following day, Phil sent a formal grievance to Charles Haigh, followed by a letter of resignation.

4. Rebecca is 6 months pregnant and is married to Tej. Rebecca has been experiencing a difficult pregnancy which has resulted in frequent absences. She requests time off to attend an antenatal appointment and asks Tej to join her. She is told by her manager, Mike, that she has to make the time up and Tej is told that he cannot be released due to low levels of staffing. In the last 6 months, he has been pressured into canceling Friday on 3 occasions due to workload in the office. Rebecca has mentioned to Mike that she is interested in taking shared parental leave.

5. Ciara joined the personal lines team as an administrator 5 months ago after graduating from university. Ciara is 23 and is paid the NMW but has not yet received a contract of employment. Jed has been training Ciara. He has worked for the organization for 5 years, across 2 successive fixed-term contracts. His role is to support regulated activity and he consistently works over and above his contracted 40 hours per week.

The contract of employment sets out that he has to work additional hours (unpaid) if the business requires it. In his role, he attends frequent client meetings, meaning that he could be on the road a lot, and this includes hours spent traveling to and from last appointments if there were traffic delays. Jed has raised a grievance, stating that he regularly works more than 50 hours a week and isn’t paid for it, believing this to be in breach of Working Time Regulations. He has previously opted out and as part of his remuneration package, he receives a commission and a bonus. Charles has suggested that his fixed-term contract should be ended as
he is a ‘troublemaker’.

Based on the information provided:
a) Identify and assess the level of risk from claims relating to potentially unlawful acts of discrimination. (LO2)

b) What issues do you see with the practices surrounding contractual arrangements? Assess the risks, possible defenses, and ways to mitigate them. (LO3)

c) Advise Mike on the practical aspects of family-friendly employment rights and the legal implications of a failure to comply. (LO4)

d) What potential claims might Brookes Insurance Group face regarding Ciara and Jed, and what arguments can be put forward to mitigate? (LO4)

You must demonstrate your understanding of employment legislation, and best practices and justify your advice concerning relevant case law. You must use your word count carefully and ensure your answers follow the assessment principles on page 3.

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