Here’s this week’s varied selection of workplace Q&As
Defamation?
Q. If an employee talks to my business partner about me with defamation of character can they be sacked or issued with written warning?
A. If your employee is making disparaging remarks about you to a third party, you should invite him/her to a disciplinary meeting to discuss the issue and provide any necessary sanction.
I suspect they would need to be extremely serious to warrant summary dismissal. Ensure you follow the correct process (ACAS Code on disciplinary and grievance procedures) and provide the right of appeal if necessary.
Clocking in
Q. Hi, Just after some advice. I work at a firm in the UK who are trying to implement an automated process in which they no longer have to fill in a data sheet for everyone’s clocking information. On the face of it, this seems like a good idea and welcome the use of technology. However, I have had a couple of instances where my clocking information hasn’t registered on the computer and have had to email the payroll team to let them know so they can capture it, so I still get paid.
There response is: When the clocking data goes automated they will no longer be making any changes, this in turn will result in 0 hours for that day, if you forget to clock in or out. I do not believe this is fair as it only directly impacts the hourly paid staff and means nothing to salaried staff. In addition to this, the clocking machine doesn’t work 100% of the time and I have personally experienced it were the machine says it has registered my clock but I then receive an email stating I did not clock in/out.
My question is, can my company legally/morally do this? Enforce this and the end results is a lot of annoyed staff.
A. I can understand your company implementing an automated clocking in system, but it needs to function correctly. It is their responsibility to ensure it works and pay you your correct amount each pay period. To simply say that if the system doesn’t register your clocking in or out you will not be paid is
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