Most employers will be aware that the law on maternity rights has changed again. Since 6 April a woman bringing a sex discrimination claim on grounds of pregnancy, or for exercising the right to maternity leave, no longer needs to show that she was treated less favourably than she would have been treated had she not been pregnant or taken maternity leave. The need for a comparator is removed. However, of more practical significance for employers is the imminent change (taking effect where the expected week of childbirth begins on or after 5 October 2008) to rights during additional maternity leave. Affected employees will be entitled to the benefit of their non-remuneration terms during additional maternity leave as well as during ordinary maternity leave. See the latest series of XpertHR’s Topic of the Week (subscription required) for an overview, case studies and FAQs on the changes.

To coincide with the launch of its new online archive, The Times has published a list of 100 "cases that changed Britain", including some colourful employment decisions.

Many of the questions featured in our 10 most frequently visited FAQs during April relate to legislative changes that came into force on 6 April, including the amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 in relation to harassment and rights during maternity leave, and the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. Meanwhile, the statutory retirement procedures are still a source of confusion, with subscribers viewing FAQs on the number of requests that can be made in connection to a proposed retirement date, and whether or not an employer can seek to retire an employee at a later date where it has previously granted a request for him or her to continue working indefinitely beyond retirement age.

Many of the questions featured in our 10 most popular questions during February are new additions to the FAQ section of XpertHR – the majority published as the result of subscriber suggestions. So, if you have a question that you would like to see in the FAQ section of the site, don’t forget you can make use of the suggest a question button [subscription required]. Even if your suggestion isn’t suitable for publication as an FAQ, it might still provide useful ideas for guidance that could be published in other areas of the site, or prompt more detailed examination of a problematic subject.

According to a study by the TUC, more people will be working tomorrow than ever before. The organisation is "urging everyone to spare a thought for the 135,000 people who will be working this Christmas Day".

Over 50 new model policies and documents have been added to XpertHR in 2007. But what have been the most popular? Here’s a round-up of 10 of our most-viewed documents.

The TUC has designated Friday 22 February "work your proper hours day" for 2008. If all unpaid overtime were worked at the beginning of the year, it says, this is the date on which a typical employee would begin to draw their wages.

Since "work your proper hours day" gets earlier in the calendar each year, it is hard to know whether we should congratulate the TUC on its success or churlishly point out that working time is generally falling regardless of campaigns like this.

… while the statutory minimum notice to be provided by an employer rises in relation to an employee’s service, the statutory minimum notice to be provided by the employee remains the same?

With the increase in minimum statutory leave on the first of the month, the issue of annual leave is high on our list of the top 10 most frequently asked HR questions during October. Questions on TUPE feature too – one of the most popular being about harmonisation. If you’ve been looking at that, you’ll probably be interested in XpertHR’s forthcoming guidance from TUPE expert John McMullen on dealing with this issue in practice. Look out for it in the coming weeks.

The issue of pregnancy and maternity leave is high in our list of the top 10 most frequently asked HR questions during September – with fertility treatment, multiple births and regular time off sick during pregnancy all featuring. Don’t forget you can view a full range of common questions on this topic in the FAQ section of XpertHR.

About 90% of mothers struggle to get sufficient flexibility when they return to work, according to research from workingmums.co.uk.

How does the UK's minimum holiday provision compare with what's on offer in other countries around the world?

Statutory minimum annual leave entitlement in the UK rises from four weeks (20 days, full-time) to 4.8 weeks (24 days) from 1 October 2007. A further increase will take place in April 2009 to 5.6 weeks (28 days). Detailed advice and guidance are available on the main XpertHR service [subscription required].

This looks positively generous compared with the seven-day legal minimum apparently provided in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mexico, the 10-day allowance in Vietnam or the 14-day minimum that reportedly applies in Colombia, Ecuador, Israel, Paraguay and Peru. But a little mean compared with the 35-day allowance in Finland.

Unsurprisingly, several of the questions featured in our top 10 most popular questions during August are recent additions to the FAQ section of XpertHR. But with almost 1000 FAQs available, why not browse some of the older questions? And, if you can’t find the answer to your particular question, you can always use the Suggest a question button [subscription required]. Even if your suggestion isn’t suitable for publication as an FAQ, it might still provide useful ideas for guidance that could be commissioned for other areas of the site, or prompt more detailed examination of a problematic subject.

The issue of employees taking time off to undergo elective surgery is a tricky one. It’s best to have a clear policy on the subject and employers can use XpertHR’s new model policy [subscription required] as a template.

Are you unclear about exactly which terms and conditions you inherit on a TUPE transfer? Or what sorts of things constitute “measures” for consultation purposes?

Perhaps you’re confused about whether there’s a requirement to give a day off in lieu of a bank holiday during maternity leave. Or unsure if you can still roll up your short-term workers’ holiday pay into their wages.

It seems that Acas was busier throughout 2007/07 than it first led us to believe. The conciliation service has reissued its annual report (pdf format, 1.68MB) (on the Acas website) to show that the total number of claims received for conciliation during the year was 105,177 and not 84,039 as the report had initially indicated. This compares to 109,712 claims during 2005/06.

Most HR departments will have had to deal with a situation where an employee who is the subject of a disciplinary process goes off sick, but the legal and practical issues are far from clear. XpertHR’s new model procedure and accompanying letters [subscription required] set out what employers can do when this happens.

Believe it or not, it is summer! Most parts of the country have suffered some form of disruption due to the bad weather. The bad news is that there is more rain to come. The good news is that XpertHR has some information resources to give employers guidance on dealing with employment issues caused by severe weather.

Finding it difficult to get your head round the new statutory annual leave entitlements? If not, you probably haven't tried to work them out yet. The date on which your organisation's holiday year begins makes a big difference, for example.

Make sure your organisation isn’t caught out by reliance on these employment law myths.

1. Employees with less than a year’s service can be dismissed without any necessity to follow the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedure

Employers should think very carefully before taking a decision to dismiss an employee with less than a year’s service without following the statutory procedure. Not following the procedure will result in an automatically unfair dismissal and an increase in any compensation awarded – although, in general, an employee needs a year’s service to bring a claim. Employers should, however, note that a number of reasons for dismissal – including trade union membership or a reason connected to pregnancy – require no minimum service for an unfair dismissal claim. There is also the possibility that the employee might succeed in another claim, such as a discrimination claim, as a result of the dismissal. Either scenario would result in increased compensation.

Managers are saving their employers some £4 billion a year by failing to take their full holiday entitlement, the Chartered Management Institute claims. What a shame they aren’t saving the planet at the same time.

Unsurprisingly, the XpertHR FAQs on the smoking ban in England have been the most frequently visited on the site this month – but what else have HR professionals been asking? Leaving aside smoking-ban related questions, we look at the top 10 most frequently asked HR questions during June.

Every workplace has an employee who really does not want to be there. This is often reflected in the employee's absence levels and the excuses that are given for these absences.

Blogger Jay Shepherd writes about the excuses that one particular employee has given for her absences on his website Gruntled Employees.

A new BBC drama will hit our screens in the coming months called Sex, the City and Me. The programme follows the story of a successful woman working at an investment bank, who chooses to have a baby and "deals with the prejudice" involved in the financial world.

The main storyline is that she returns to work after maternity leave [subscription required] to find that things are not the same, colleagues treat her differently and management shun her contribution [subscription required].

On the press release the BBC have said that "The drama is inspired by in-depth interviews with women who have fought, or are preparing to fight, major cases in the City of London." I feel this raises important issues and would be interesting viewing from an HR perspective.

There is also the question of whether this programme might discourage women from trying to start a family alongside a successful career. We will have to wait and see how the BBC tackles the issue and the impact it has on the general public.

A report from the Sector Skills Development Agency shows that Britain's productivity levels are falling well behind Europe and the US (PDF format, 1.97MB). Apparently, the difference is stark when per hour or per worker measures of productivity are considered and varies widely according to sector.

The Sector Skills Almanac 2007 reveals that while the UK's employment rate is the fourth highest in Europe and some sectors are more productive than their EU and US equivalents, the UK's overall productivity levels are 21% behind the US and 8% lower than Europe.