Acas has launched new guidance on reasonable adjustments for mental health at work for both employers and workers.
It is important for employers to take an employee’s mental health problem seriously and with the same care as a physical illness. Acas has new guidance and resources to help support employers and employees when handling reasonable adjustments for mental health at work, including practical steps and what considerations they should be aware of.
The law (Equality Act 2010) says that employers must make reasonable adjustments for:
- workers
- contractors and self-employed people hired to personally do the work
- job applicants
Employers must make reasonable adjustments when:
- they know, or could reasonably be expected to know, someone is disabled
- a disabled staff member or job applicant asks for adjustments
- someone who’s disabled is having difficulty with any part of their job
- someone’s absence record, sickness record or delay in returning to work is because of, or linked to, their disability
The advice covers:
- What reasonable adjustments for mental health are
- Examples of reasonable adjustments for mental health
- Requesting reasonable adjustments for mental health
- Responding to reasonable adjustments for mental health requests
- Managing employees with reasonable adjustments for mental health
- Reviewing policies with mental health in mind
Millions to take home more cash as new law on Tipping passes
Withholding tips from staff becomes unlawful as the Tipping Bill achieves Royal Assent, with more than 2 million workers to have their tips protected.
Millions of UK workers will take home an estimated £200 million more of their hard-earned cash, as employers are banned from withholding tips under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on Tuesday 2 May.
Many hospitality workers rely on tips to top up their pay and are often left powerless if businesses don’t pass on service charges from customers to their staff.
This Bill makes it unlawful for businesses to hold back service charges from their employees, ensuring staff receive the tips they have earned. The measures are expected to come into force in 2024, following a consultation and secondary legislation.
This overhaul of tipping practices is set to benefit more than 2 million UK workers across the hospitality, leisure and services sectors helping to ease cost of living pressures and give them peace of mind that they will keep their hard-earned money.
Through the Act, a new statutory Code of Practice will be developed to provide businesses and staff with advice on how tips should be distributed. On top of this, workers will receive a new right to request more information relating to an employer’s tipping record, enabling them to bring forward a credible claim to an employment tribunal.
This provides summary information and comment on the subject areas covered. Where employment tribunal and appellate court cases are reported, the information does not set out all of the facts, the legal arguments presented and the judgments made in every aspect of the case. Employment law is subject to constant change either by statute or by interpretation by the courts. While every care has been taken in compiling this information, we cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Specialist legal advice must be taken on any legal issues that may arise before embarking upon any formal course of action.
