Infozone: the briefing – 11/06/10
EMPLOYERS MUST BEWARE OF WORLD CUP DISCRIMINATION, WARNS LAW FIRM
Employers are running the risk of discrimination claims over their World Cup flexible working policies, employment lawyers have warned.
The warning follows a survey by law firm DLA Piper, which revealed that, while 51% of employers plan to offer flexible working for staff during England games, only 19% were considering offering the same conditions during matches that do not involve England.
Kate Hodgkiss, an employment partner at DLA Piper, said: "Flexible working is useful in terms of ensuring staff morale, but if workers support other teams [such policies] could amount to discrimination on the grounds of race or nationality."
BALLS: ‘MOVEMENT OF UNSKILLED WORKERS SHOULD BE CURTAILED'
New restrictions on the free movement of unskilled workers in Europe should be introduced, according to Ed Balls, one of the contenders for the Labour Party leadership.
Balls has suggested rewriting the EU treaty's provisions on the free movement of labour and warned that large flows of unskilled workers put strains on communities.
He said: "The hard-headed view says if you believe in European integration - and you want to have the mobility of labour - the free mobility of unskilled labour is not sustainable for communities like the one I represent."
SICKNESS ABSENCE AT ALL-TIME LOW
The recession has led to the lowest sickness absence levels on record, but is still costing businesses £16.8bn a year, research shows.
Employees took on average 6.4 sick days last year, which amounted to 180 million lost working days, according to the CBI/Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey. This level of absence is the lowest since the survey began in 1987, down from 6.7 days per employee in 2007 - the previous surveyed year.
