Employment Law Advice for Office Managers

Operations Manager: Recruiting Temporary Employees

Details/Description:

You have had a busy day in the office. During the day five different managers have come to you for advice. For each question you are required to give advice, but this must be based on an appropriate analysis of the law.

From the Operations Manager

It is great news, we have won a big order and that will mean we have a significant piece of work for six months. To meet the deadlines we are going to need to recruit an additional 20 people. They will all work for six months, and then at the end we will keep the best performers as permanent employees.

Will these individuals be employees? What will decide whether they are employees? What sort of contract should I give them, and why?

From the Sales Manager

Ali is one of the Sales Representatives. He is separated from his wife, and they have a two year old son who lives with his wife. Yesterday his wife was ill, and she phoned him and asked him to look after their son. Ali immediately went to collect his son, and cancelled all his sales appointments for the day. I am furious, because he cancelled some important appointments. Ali says he had a right to take leave.

What leave might Ali have taken? Did he have a right to take it without booking in advance? Can I give him a disciplinary warning for cancelling the appointments?

From the Manufacturing Manager

Gerry has come to me in tears. She tells me that the rest of the team are always teasing her because she is a vegan. They have given her presents of products make from animals, and at a company lunch they tried to put some meat products in her food. She says that she has tried to joke along with them, but now it is too much and she is going to ‘take a claim’. What claim might she take? Might she be successful in her claim? What should I do to manage this situation?

From the Finance Manager

For the fourth month in a row Sheena has made mistakes in data entry, and this has meant that there were errors in the accounts. Each time I have had to work hours to find the errors and correct them. We cannot continue like this, and I need to dismiss Sheena. She has worked for us for 4 years, and it is only in the last year that her performance has started to be a problem.

What action should I take? Can I dismiss Sheena? What are the risks of dismissing her?

From the Warehouse Manager

Raj and Feng are good friends, and are often joking around in the warehouse. They work hard, and they like to have fun. However, yesterday they piled up a lot of boxes, hid behind them and jumped out at Elise as a joke. She stumbled backwards, tripped and has broken a bone in her back.

What legal claim might Elise make? Who will be liable if she wins her claim? What action should I take?