In this week MMD, we have an update from Daniel on the use of pre-recruitment health questionnaires.

We are also pleased to announce a seminar we are hosting with Hays Recruitment on 22 May 2024 at Wakefield Trinity. The event will combine an employment law update with a presentation on the use of AI in the legal industry. To register your interest please reply by return or email our team on seminars@chadlaw.co.uk.

THE MEDIA HUB

Healthy interrogation

When can an employer ask questions relating to health in a recruitment process? What happens where an offer is withdrawn on receipt of medical information? This video considers the risks of such enquiries and the need to demonstrate justification and relevance.

https://youtu.be/Efo8kgF6jno 

There have been lots of relevant employment law/HR updates this week.

Pregnant woman stereotyped at emotional wins constructive dismissal claim.

The Claimant was a regional accounts manager for Mitie. She discovered that she was pregnant in April 2020 and informed her manager, Kalley and another manager in the business, Harper the following month. Despite knowing of her pregnancy, the Company failed to carry out a risk assessment during this time, blaming a ‘lack of communication’ for this failure. In October 2020, the Claimant expressed several concerns in an email to Kalley, including panic attacks, disrupted sleep and concerns that she may become unwell with work-related stress or anxiety as she was “really struggling” with aspects of her role. Despite expressing these concerns, the Claimant stated that they were ignored by Kalley and not dealt with in line with Company policy.

Later that month, Kalley emailed a HR business partner and suggested that the prospect of taking unpaid leave before her maternity leave should be raised with the Claimant. The email read as follows: “I was expecting this email as Nicola has become very emotional and tearful especially over the last week or so. I am very frustrated with this as she is certainly not overworked and we have been very supportive in helping her manage her workload … I know we have to deal with this very sensitively and I want to try and support Nicola as much as I can but we need to move this forward.” The company did not carry out a risk assessment ahead of her return from maternity leave in 2021, and the Claimant stated that Kalley did not respond to an email that asked for structured support with her return to work.

The Claimant resigned in September 2021 and brought a claim for constructive dismissal which was upheld by the Tribunal. The judgment says: “Rather than genuinely wanting to support the claimant as he professed, Mr Kalley instead wanted the respondent to be seen to be supportive of her in circumstances where he effectively wanted her out of the way as soon as possible so that others could step up in her place.” The tribunal found that the failure to carry out a risk assessment and Kalley’s lack of effective response to the Claimant’s emails breached the trust and confidence she held in her employer and contributed to her resignation in September 2021.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65e04a16b8da63b345c86250/Ms_N_Hinds_v_Mitie_Limited-_3322885-2021_and_3322911-2021-_Reasons.pdf

UPCOMING EVENTS

We have lots of exciting events coming up which we would love for you to be a part of.

To register your interest in any event, please email seminars@chadlaw.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you there!

JOIN US FOR OUR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS SESSIONS

Through our relationship with Tailored Learning Solutions who provide mental health first aid courses in our business, we are now able to announce that we are running multiple courses at our Wakefield office including the following:

Mental Health First Aid (2 day course)

• 24/25th April (FULLY BOOKED)
• 26/27th June
• 25/26th Sept

Mental Health First Aid – Refresher (1/2 day workshop)

• 24th September

Suicide First Aid – LITE (1/2 day workshop)

• 25th June

Suicide First Aid – Understanding Suicide Intervention (1 day workshop)

• 25th November

Mental Health for Managers Workshop (1 day workshop)

• 26th April
• 14th October

The details of these sessions can be found at the Tailored Learning Solutions website: https://www.tailoredlearningsolutions.co.uk/book-online?category=all-services

If you would like further information and details of the cost for these events, please email carolgledhill@chadlaw.co.uk