A round up of the latest HR and Employment Law updates.

SURGERY OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK? TAKE CARE TO AVOID DISCRIMINATION

In the light of proposed changes in practice opening times schemes like the Bury Easy GP Project ,which sees surgeries open 7 days a week, means that it will fall to practices to ensure that there are sufficient staff available.

However, practices looking at who will work are not only caught up with legislation like Working Time Regulations but also what steps must be taken to avoid falling foul of what care needs to be taken to avoid any form of discrimination. What if someone’s religious beliefs means that they need to avoid working at particular times or days of the week?

In the recent case of Fhima v Traveljigsaw Ltd, a Tribunal upheld the claim of a Jewish candidate for religious discrimination when she failed to get a call centre job after advising the prospective employers that her religious beliefs prevented her working from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. The prospective employers had apparently advised her that she could not be offered the job because all call centre employees are required to work on Saturdays.

Working hours are initially dictated by employment contracts and if there are any changes to opening times it will mean that managers must look at existing contracts of employment before also tackling their recruitment policy and procedure.

We must also bear in mind that, at the moment, certain retail workers (and those in betting shops) can opt out of Sunday working unless that is their only day of work. With more workers being asked to work on Sundays, it is likely that the government will need to review this too.

While on the subject of discrimination and/or disadvantageous treatment, you may have missed our link to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s website which signposts a report on the experiences of women in pregnancy.

CUTTING SALARY TO ATTRACT MORE GPs?

Experts say that England is already short of GPs by some 3,300 and another 8,000 will soon be needed because of our ageing population.

Yet, at a time when more GPs are needed, proposals made by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration would effectively mean that GPs would be paid around 31% less than trainees in hospitals.

This will make it less attractive for graduates to go into general practice which, in turn, will “make it impossible to achieve the Government’s target of increasing the number of GPs by 5000 by 2020” says Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the RCGP.

ARE YOU GETTING READY FOR THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE RATE INCREASE?

From the 1^st October 2015 the national minimum wage will change as follows:

Whilst during the holiday season this may seem some time off, now is a good time to update your payroll generally so that you will be well prepared.

You may also want to visit ACAS’s new guide on “Handling pay and wages” http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5308

Also do bear in mind that in the latest budget (July 2015 a National Living Wage, which will be in excess of the National Minimum Wage) has been proposed with plans for implementation by 2020.

Quite by coincidence, every topic in this blog can be linked with our earlier (April) report on GP Staff pay.