Next week the annual increase to minimum rates of pay is set to take effect. For those aged 23 and over this will mean at least £9.50 per hour before deductions for tax, National Insurance and pension (if applicable) are made.
The full list of changes, which come into force on 1st April 2022, are as follows:
All workers and employees are entitled to receive the minimum wage for their age, with breaches being enforced by HMRC or by the employee themselves through the Employment Tribunal. Furthermore, there is protection against dismissal for those who have raised complaints about being paid less than the relevant amount.
Most employers are keen to avoid dismissing staff in whom they have invested time and money but this is not always possible.
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), sometimes referred to as “gagging clauses”, are rarely out of the news.
On 5 December 2022, following its Making Flexible Working The Default consultation, which has now concluded, the UK government announced that it will be introducing reforms to the law around employees’ rights to make flexible working requests.
I was interested to read the recent reports in the Guardian and BBC News that Elon Musk has sent an email which requires all staff to sign a commitment to working “long hours at high intensity” and being “extremely hardcore”. They report that the alternative is that they will receive three months’ severance pay.