You, Your Employees & COVID-19

In these unprecedented and uncertain times, the last thing your business needs is to be exposed to the risk of a personal grievance.

Our three tips for getting through this difficult time with your employees:

1.     Keep informed (some useful links below)

2.     Communicate with staff early and often

3.     Get advice before taking any action that will affect an employee’s employment

Remember: normal employment law rules still apply, so you need to do things the right way even if you have very valid reasons for doing it. We’re here to help.

For example:

–       We can help with any questions you have about how the government can help your business and staff.

–       If you have staff requesting flexibility in their hours or location of work, we can help you with how to respond and making sure everyone’s on the same page about what has been agreed and how long any change will apply.

–       If you’re thinking about reducing staff hours, we can help check if your employment agreements allow you to do this and, if not, help you navigate the process of doing so through agreement with staff or through a change management process.

–       If you’re thinking about making some staff redundant, we can help you follow the change management process you need to go through first.

–       If you’re thinking of letting go your causal staff (by not offering any more hours), we can help by making sure they are truly “casual” and not permanent part-time, mitigating against the risk of an unjustified dismissal claim.

–       If you’re thinking of cancelling contracts with any independent contractors, we can help make sure they are actually contractors in the eyes of the law and not employees, again mitigating against the risk of an unjustified dismissal claim.

Below are some links to relevant website with information to help guide you. If you have any questions about what you read, we can help there too.

Government wage subsidy for businesses struggling to pay employees because of COVID-19

Government funded COVID-19 leave for employees who need to self-isolate

Workplace response to COVID-19

Changing an employee’s working arrangements because of COVID-19

Please contact Wakefields Lawyers at 0800 LEGAL1 or info@wakefieldslaw.com for any assistance you may require regarding you and your employees in this difficult time.