Although this form of employment discrimination is unlawful, 15% of SME bosses anonymously admitted that they had broken sex discrimination laws in new research carried out by law firm Slater and Gordon. The research also revealed that one in four bosses have rejected or would reject a woman, simply because she was a single parent. A further 29% said they have discounted or would discount a woman for a job role because she had young children and 28% said they have or would because she was recently engaged or married. Shockingly, 37% of bosse... Continue reading

Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com Ltd has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for sending millions of emails to customers who had made it clear they didn’t want to be contacted in that way. The company sent 7.1 million emails over ten days, updating customers with its Terms and Conditions. But all the recipients had previously opted out of direct marketing. Moneysupermarket’s email included a section entitled 'Preference Centre Update', which read: "We hold an email address for you which mea... Continue reading

The revised occupational health and safety standard GRI 403 has been released by international sustainability reporting organisation, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The standard has been revised to focus on the presence of robust occupational health and safety management systems, and the processes and programs that prevent harm and promote worker health – and will assist companies in driving improvements in occupational health and safety and in the lives of millions of workers through transparency. The updated standard:  enables org... Continue reading

LGBT people in the workplace will be one of the areas addressed by a new government action plan designed to to tackle discrimination and improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the UK. The LGBT Action Plan has been published alongside the results of the largest national survey of LGBT people ever undertaken. The survey, which had over 108,000 respondents, shows LGBT people are experiencing prejudice on a daily basis. More than two in three of those who participated in the survey said they avoided holding h... Continue reading

The government has published a new consultation which sets out plans to improve the Pensions Regulator’s powers and increase the protections for defined benefit scheme members. This consultation’s proposals would enable the Pensions Regulator’s to: be more proactive and get involved earlier when employers make changes which could affect the pension scheme; obtain the right information about a scheme and its sponsoring employer; and get redress for members if things go wrong. This consultation is aimed at: pension scheme truste... Continue reading