This page contains information that has appeared on Sandy Adirondack's legal update website for voluntary organisations at www.sandy-a.co.uk/legal.htm. For current updates, including potential changes that are in the pipeline, see the legal update website.

These websites for each chapter update the 3rd edition of The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook by James Sinclair Taylor and the Charity Team at Russell-Cooke Solicitors, edited by Sandy Adirondack (Directory of Social Change, 2009). The websites are not intended as a comprehensive update and should not be treated as such.

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Chapter 26
RIGHTS, DUTIES AND THE CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT

'DISCUSSION' ON EMPLOYER'S CHARTER

Added 30/1/11. This information updates chapter 26 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
From 27 January to 20 April 2011, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is asking for comments on a draft employer's charter "intended to raise awareness and give clarity amongst employers on what they can or can't do when managing their staff".

I find the charter simplified to such an extent that an employer who relies on it could be more likely, not less, to end up in tribunal. For example, it says that employers, as long as they act fairly and reasonably, are entitled to:

• ask an employee to take their annual leave at a time that suits the business [but does not make clear that in relation to statutory annual leave, notice as required under the Working Time Regulations must be given, and an employee can be required to take contractual annual leave at a specified time only if the contract allows — see Russell Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook s.31.4.3.1];
• make an employee redundant if the business takes a downward turn [but does not make clear that a person can be made redundant only if there is no suitable alternative work — see VSLH s.35.6];
• ask an employee to take a pay cut [but does not make clear that imposing a pay cut without the employee's consent is likely to be a breach of contract — see VSLH s.26.9];
• ask an employee about their future career plans, including retirement [but does not make clear that doing so in a way that implies, or could be taken as implying, that the employer is encouraging the employee to leave could potentially give rise to a claim for constructive unfair dismissal — see VSLH s.34.2.9].

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for the voluntary sector
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