Complete Employment Law

One
09:30 - Introduction to employment law
· Examining the nature and focus of employment law
· Considering the sources of employment law
· EU law
· Human rights

10:00 - The employment relationship and employment contracts
· The recruitment process: key dos and don'ts
· What are the elements of a binding contractual relationship?
· What are express and implied terms?
· Changing contract terms
· Continuity of employment and its importance

10:30 - Employment status
· The difference between 'employees' and 'workers'
· Temporary workers
· Part-time workers
· Fixed-term workers

11:00 - Coffee
11:15 - Pay and working time
· Working Time Regulations: key rights
· Holidays and special leave
· National Minimum Wage
· Key issues when considering workers' pay
· Statutory sick pay and deductions
12:00 - Special contract clauses
· Probationary periods: monitoring performance and terminating at short notice
· Confidentiality, competition and restraints
· Whistleblowing and its practical implications

12:30 - Lunch
13:30 - Grievances and discipline
· Definitions and concepts
· When does a 'grievance' arise?
· Handling grievances: best practice guidance
· Disciplinary matters: managing procedures and warnings
· Examining the nature of formal disciplinary hearings
· The question of 'reasonableness'

14:15 - Coffee
14:30 - Grievances and discipline (continued)
16:30 - End of day one

Day Two
09:30 - Dismissal
· Termination including constructive dismissal
· What are acceptable reasons for fair dismissal?
· What are automatically unfair dismissals?
· Misconduct outside the workplace
· Email and internet abuse
· Unfair dismissal - including Tribunal rules and remedies
· Settlements and compromise agreements

10:15 - Performance and absence
· How should you deal with poor performance?
· Managing short-term persistent and long-term continuous absence

11:00 - Coffee
11:15 - Redundancy
· Defining redundancy and relating legal requirements
· Individual and collective rights
· How should you manage redundancies?

12:00 - Employment Tribunals
· Time limits and claim and response forms
· Preparing for the tribunal: collecting relevant evidence
· Documentation and the tribunal 'bundle'
· Getting to grips with tribunal procedure
· Dos and dont's when presenting a case
· Employment Tribunal Regulations
Book now for the Tribunal Visit on day 4!

12:30 - Lunch
13:30 - Collective rights:Trade unions and industrial relations
· Trade unions and how they work
· Collective agreements and employee involvement
· Recognition, rights and members
· Disputes, strikes and members
· The European Works Council
· Information and consultation regulations

14:15 - Tea
14:30 - Transfer of undertakings
· What is the transfer of an undertaking?
· The new TUPE regulations
· New obligations to provide employee liability information
· Who transfers and what obligations transfer?
· Changing terms and conditions and unfair dismissals

16:30 - End of day two

Day Three
09:00 - Registration and coffee
09:30 - Health and safety at work
· The employer's responsibilities and liabilities: common law, statute and tort
· Protection from stress, harassment and bullying
· Vicarious liability
· Personal injuries and reasonable foreseeability
· Handling stress claims

11:00 - Coffee
11:15 - Discrimination Law
· Sex and race discrimination: direct and indirect
· Equal Pay Act: examining the law and the material factor defense
· Sexual orientation, religion and belief, disability and age discrimination: latest
· Burden of proof
· Getting to grips with harassment and discrimination

12:30 - Lunch
13:30 - Family-friendly rights and flexible working
· Ordinary and additional maternity leave
· Paternity leave and pay
· Adoption rights
· Parental leave and time off for dependents
· Flexible working
· Future changes

15:00 - Coffee
15:15 - Family-friendly rights and flexible working continued
16:30 - End of day three

Day Four
Visit to an Employment Tribunal - experience an actual employment tribunal
One of our expert trainers will accompany participants to explain and discuss aspects of the actual case, highlighting procedures, tactics and relevant points of law.This is a valuable opportunity to put into context some of the law and practice learnt in the course.

You will have the chance to:
· Gain a comprehensive overview of the tribunal process
· Get to grips with the basics of preparing a tribunal case
· See and hear how tribunal cases are presented in practice
· Consolidate your learning from the first three days of the course