• almost all workplaces will be smokefree. Public transport and work vehicles used by more than one person will also need to be smokefree
   
• A5 size 'no-smoking' signs must be displayed in all smokefree premises and vehicles (you can download the sign here)
   
• Staff smoking rooms and indoor smoking areas will no longer be allowed, so anyone who wants to smoke will have to go outside
   
• Managers of smokefree premises and vehicles will have legal responsibilities to prevent people from smoking.

For more information, visit http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk


Statutory paternity leave
Further consultation is under way on the Department of Trade and Industry's proposals on implementing 26 weeks' additional statutory paternity leave.

Under the scheme, a mother who wants to return to work during the second six months of the baby's life would be able to pass on some of her statutory maternity leave and pay to the child's father.

The Government is looking for 'practical comments' on implementing the scheme to minimise burdens on business while 'providing more choice for parents'. The consultation runs until 3 August – more details here.


Vulnerable workers
Business leaders are working alongside trade union leaders, academics and minority group representatives on a new body aimed at investigating vulnerable workers in the UK.

The Commission on Vulnerable Employment is a TUC initiative chaired by general secretary Brendan Barber with a remit which includes investigating the extent of workplace exploitation and how this can be addressed through new laws to protect vulnerable staff.

Groups considered particularly vulnerable include agency workers, migrant workers, homeworkers, informal workers, atypical temporary workers, younger workers, and unpaid family workers. More information from the vulnerable workers website.


Disability assessments
The Court of Appeal is to consider the issue of whether an employer's failure to make an assessment of a disabled employee amounts in itself to a failure to make a 'reasonable adjustment' following several conflicting decisions from the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

In the latest, Spence v Intype Libra Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that the employer had not failed to make a reasonable adjustment through its failure to obtain and consult on a medical report before dismissing an employee who had become disabled. However, because of the conflicting decisions, Mr Spence was given permission to appeal the case further.


Equal pay – defining 'same job'
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has, in Blundell v St Andrew's Catholic Primary School, handed down the first decision defining a woman's entitlement to return after maternity leave 'to the job in which she was employed before her absence'.

The claimant worked at a school where teachers typically rotated classes every two years, and when her maternity leave began she was in charge of a reception class. When she returned, she was allocated to Year 2 which she claimed was not a return to the same job.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal however held that it was and three factors needed to be considered when comparing 'old' and 'new' jobs: nature, capacity, and place. As the claimant was employed as a primary school teacher, and she returned to work as such, the employer's obligation to let her return to the 'same job' was satisfied.


Age discrimination
Three-quarters of small businesses have not yet put in place procedures allowing employees to continue working beyond 65, according to research from the Small Enterprise Research Team at the Open University.

The survey, for Lloyds TSB, found only 25 per cent of firms complied with the age discrimination regulations 'right to request' procedures. Almost half – 45 per cent – said they were still undecided about what to do, and of these it was because they feared more red tape (40 per cent) or higher costs (21 per cent).

However, of those quizzed, 57 per cent said they would treat favourably requests to work beyond 65, while only 7 per cent said they would not. More information from SERT at http://www.serteam.co.uk/d-commerce/Lloyds_Report.html


And some snippets…

Compensation ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that employees cannot receive compensation for periods when it would have been illegal for them to work. So, in one recent case, the employee could not receive unfair dismissal compensation for the period when he would have continued working for the employer after his work permit ran out.


Race bias persists

Employment causes the most problems for ethnic minority communities, according to recent research carried out for the Commission for Racial Equality which found that over a recent six-month period, 43 per cent of the 5,000 complaints received concerned the workplace. The most common complaints reported centred on workplace bullying, lack of career progression, and being unable to secure job interviews. Details here.


Fines overhaul

Employers who pay below the minimum wage may face a new regime of fines under a raft of Department of Trade and Industry proposals now out for consultation. Businesses could also have to pay interest or other cash to workers they have underpaid, on top of repaying arrears, under the new scheme. Consultation continues until 8 August 2007.


Health and safety merger

The merging of the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive is a step nearer following publication of the results of the consultation exercise which ended in March 2007. Key findings show that 80 per cent of those who took part favoured having a single unitary health and safety body and agreed with the overarching principles proposed for it.