Number 2 20 May 2014

Welcome
WELCOME to Conference
Chambers' second newsletter.
Thank you for your positive
feedback on our first effort pub-
lished earlier this month. This
edition has a National Minimum
Wage theme. The reason for
that is there are, in our view, still too many employers who seem
unaware of their legal obligations when pertaining to or seeking
to apply the NMW. We are not referring to those who are un-
aware of the current rate(s) but those who are unaware of their
legal requirements in principle simply to pay it! This ought not to
be the case today, not only because the law has been in exist-
ence for a decade and a half but there is plenty of good inform-
ation informing employers (and employees) of the legal position
and one's entitlement. A failure to comply with this law leaves an
employer exposed to, amongst other things, a claim for unpaid
wages. The following is a case in point.
Esparon v Slavikovska UKEAT/0217/12/DA
In Esparon the claimant worked as a care worker at the employ-
er's residential care home. As is the case I suspect with most, if
not all, residential care homes, she was required to work a num-
ber of 'sleep-in' night shifts and be available for emergency
purposes. Statutory provisions required the employer to ensure
that at all times an appropriate number of suitably qualified,
2014 Conference Chambers 1
National Minimum
Wage
In a month where there has been
much focus on the National Min-
imum Wage (NMW) in Switzerland,
we thought we would touch on
this subject in this issue of our
newsletter. In case some are unfa-
miliar with recent developments in
Switzerland, on 18 May 2014 it
held a referendum on what has
been reported would have been
the highest NMW in the world at
around 15 per hour.
The UK
To get an idea of the scale of the
Swiss referendum, the current
NMW for workers aged 21 and
over in the UK is 6.31 per hour.
However, as is traditional in the
UK, in October (1st to be precise)
we shall see a rise, which will be
around 3%, to 6.50 for the same
age group of workers. When it was
first introduced in April 1999 the
rate was 3.60 (for adults), which, if
reports are to be believed, over
1.5 million workers were earning
below that at the time. In March
2014 the Department for Business,
Innovation & Skills announced that
the new rate was set to benefit
one-million workers. Incidentally,
76% of voters in the Swiss referen-
dum rejected the proposal.
CONFERENCE CHAMBERS
NEWSLETTER
Number 2 20 May 2014
competent and experienced persons were working at the care
home. The claimant maintained that she was required to carry out
certain duties during the night shift and was awarded a lump sum
for each sleep-in shift, but at a rate substantially less than the hourly
rate of the NMW. Before the employment tribunal she claimed,
amongst other things, that she was entitled to be paid the NMW as
she was carrying out 'time work' as defined by the relevant statute
and regulations. The employment tribunal found in her favour. The
employer appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).
Dismissing the employer's appeal, the EAT stated, amongst other
things, "An important consideration in determining whether an
employee is carrying out time work by reason of presence at the
[employer's] premises 'just in case' must be why the employer re-
quires the employee to be on the premises. If [it] requires the em-
ployee to be on the premises pursuant to a statutory requirement
to have a suitable person on the premises "just in case" that would
be a powerful indicator that the employee is being paid simply to
be there and is thus deemed to be working regardless of whether
work is actually carried out."
Conclusion
ON occasions it is fairly obvious that a worker ought to be paid the
NMW, others less so. If in doubt, seek specific legal advice.
29 May 2014 Seminar
On 29 May 2014 Ryan shall be giving a 3 hours' seminar in East!
cote on good practices for employers when dealing with sta" dis!
ciplinary and grievances. Many errors that lead to complaints of
unfair dismissal are avoidable. The current maximum compensa!
tion that can be awarded for unfair dismissal is the lower of
#76,574 or 52 weeks of a complainant's salary. If you would like to
attend this seminar or are interested in attending or arranging for
any future seminars then please contact us accordingly. The fee
for 29 May 2014 seminar is #25 in advance for each attendee. Tea,
co"ee and biscuits will be provided.
Contact details:
Carole Paterson or Ryan Clement
Conference Chambers
272 Field End Road, Middlesex HA4 9NA
Tel: 0208 582 0500 Fax: 0800 2425323
carole@conferencechambers.com
ryan@conferencechambers.com
www.ConferenceChambers.com
2014 Conference Chambers 2
Who is entitled to the
NMW?
Despite the NMW having been
part of our laws for some 15 years
now, some employers are, to give
the benefit of the doubt, unaware
of who is entitled to the NMW. Of
course, the following is no substi-
tute for specific legal advice and
is not exhaustive. So, firstly, work-
ers must be school leaving age or
over. Secondly, they are entitled
to the NMW if they work part-
time, are casual labourers,
agency workers, workers and
homeworkers paid by the num-
ber of items they make, appren-
tices, trainees, workers on proba-
tion, agricultural workers, foreign
workers, seafarers, and offshore
workers to name a few.
Who is not entitled?
Again, this is not an exhaustive
list but workers who are self-em-
ployed, running their own busi-
ness, company directors (I shall
return to this in a later issue), vo-
lunteers or voluntary workers,
family members of the employer
living in the employers home,
non-family members living in the
employers home who share in
the work and leisure activities, are
treated as one of the family and
arent charged for meals or ac-
commodation (I shall return to
this in a later issue), and prisoners
to name a few.
Contracting out?
An employer must pay its workers
the NMW. Contracts that seek to
pay below the NMW are not leg-
ally binding.