Expert Witness blog: 16/12/2011
by Chris Stokes (www.heritage-writer.co.uk)

Welcome to the first of the Your Expert Witness weekly blogs. With the ‘first significant snowfall’ of the winter predicted by the BBC for Friday night - although we have seen a few flurries here in the Pennines - and bearing in mind the chaos that a few centimetres of the white stuff can cause in parts of this country, ACAS, the arbitration and conciliation service, has issued guidance to companies on employee relations in the winter (www.acas.org.uk - click on Winter Warners). The guidance covers issues such as illness and wellbeing (including the indubitable truth that depressive illnesses and the like tend to be worse in winter and must be treated with tact, as many expert witnesses in the medical field will attest), as well as problems in getting to work in bad weather and the avalanche of holiday requests many firms experience.

The document points out that employers do not have to pay employees who can’t get to work, but urges flexibility: can alternative arrangements be made, such as home working? It also points out that holiday entitlement is the same as any other time of year. Again, common sense is a better opinion former than stubbornness. It’s better to have employees on your side than have to engage your own expert witness in a tribunal.
When my wife worked in the private health sector as night sister, she would organise staff rotas to allow young parents to spend Christmas with their children while she took New Year, now that her children had flown the nest.

One holiday that could cause a lot of controversy is the ‘extra’ Bank Holiday to celebrate the Jubilee next year. According to the Law Donut (www.lawdonut.co.uk), an online advice column for small businesses written by Georgina Harris, there is no extra paid holiday entitlement to cover the extra day, so some workers may actually lose a day of their chosen holiday.

The same column reviews changes to employment law outlined in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, mainly the increase in qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims and the pension rules. Some experts in the employment law sector have warned that claims will be made on other grounds as a result, particularly discrimination.
London 2012 is only a few months away, and the security arrangements have been announced, including the deployment of troops, planes and war ships. That is the kind of firepower that can be arraigned against the hapless badgers once the Games are over. Less facetiously, the story goes that the cull in England has been deferred until after the Olympics so as not to tie up the security forces with the inevitable protest. That may not even happen, as there is sure to be a legal challenge along the lines of the successful case in Wales, Expert witnesses in such areas as animal welfare, veterinary issues and disease control will be sharpening their metaphorical quills. Peruse the Expert Witness Directory on this site to find out who the candidates are.

There will be a special feature examining animal welfare issues in a forthcoming issue of the Your Expert Witness paper magazine. No doubt the badger issue will be debated.

-ends -