The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that an employment tribunal was wrong to rely on previously submitted tribunal claim forms as statements of grievance, when deciding whether or not it had jurisdiction to hear constructive dismissal claims.

Thanks to digital technology, more and more job applicants are creating visual CVs, but they can pose legal risks to employers. 

Huw Cooke, associate, Burges Salmon, looks at whether short-time working is one way of cutting costs without making redundancies.

Roslyn James, solicitor, employment team, Maclay Murray and Spens, advises on the restrictions on employing foreign nationals.

The Employment Act 2008 received Royal Assent on 13 November 2008 and will come into force in stages.

In this week's topic of the week article, Sue Nickson of Hammonds LLP provides a checklist for retaining and motivating employees who remain after redundancies have been made. We have also compiled a selection from the material on XpertHR on redundancy and related topics. 

The Chancellor will make his Pre-Budget Report speech to the House of Commons on 24 November 2008. Although there is much speculation that this year's report will include tax cuts, what is more certain is that the announcement will include new income tax rates and allowances, statutory sick pay and statutory maternity pay.

In this week's topic of the week article, Sue Nickson of Hammonds LLP looks at a number of alternatives to redundancy. In addition, we pull together some of the wealth of information on XpertHR on redundancy and related topics.

In October 2008, the European Commission proposed changes to the maternity leave provisions of the 1992 EU Directive on pregnant workers. The minimum period of maternity leave would be increased from 14 weeks to 18 weeks and women on maternity leave would receive full pay, though member states could subject this to a ceiling, no lower than the rate of sick pay.

The Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has approved the revised Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Agreeing flexible working arrangements, such as reduced hours, job sharing and term-time working with staff, can be a way of avoiding redundancies. Blair Adams and Caroline Stakim at Shepherd and Wedderburn examine the issues. 

Guy Guinan, employment partner, Halliwells, answers queries on the potential pitfalls of having a second income.

Jane Moorman, partner, and Melanie Smith, solicitor, both at Howard Kennedy, consider the options available to employers who want to switch staff to commission-only salaries.

XpertHR's policies and documents service has been enhanced by the addition of a model shift-swap policy and a shift-swap agreement form.

Despite plenty of negative publicity, the use of positive action will be extended when the Equality Bill becomes law. Personnel Today looks for the plus points of this. 

Philip Pepper, associate, Weightmans, discusses the implications of the change in the law covering agency workers on contracts of up to three months regarding statutory sick pay. 

Sue Nickson, partner and chief operating officer, Hammonds, looks at the measures employers need to take to deal with employees suffering from stress. 

With the Agency Workers Directive soon to be implemented into UK law, Employment Law Bulletin consultant editor Darren Newman asks if the employer and union sides are really clear about the benefits to be excluded from the concept of equality in the Directive.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that harassment on grounds of religion occurred where the employer was motivated by the religion of another person.

XpertHR provides four worked examples giving guidance on payment during an employee's notice period when an employee is being dismissed due to long-term incapacity.

The lessons from implementing October 2006's age discrimination Regulations provide useful pointers for HR about the ways of gaining business benefits from complying with changes in equal opportunities law.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that an employee's unambiguous resignation will be found not to be effective only in exceptional circumstances.