Newsletters
Successful Conclusion To A Hard Fought Disability Case
Over three years ago, Affinity took on a case for a disabled member who needed her employer, a very large and powerful company, to make adjustments to help her cope with her disability whilst at work. This employer could have quite easily made those...
From Desktop To Laptop
In our recent Working from Home Survey, 63% of members said that they were working more than 7 hours a day and were more productive than they were before the pandemic. According to a recent study of 3 million employees in 21,500 companies published by Harvard...
Legal Action Over Inflation Change
In previous Newsletters we reported that tens of thousands of finance sector staff will see their pension benefits reduce because of the changes to way pension increases would be calculated in future. Trustees of the BT, Ford and Marks and Spencer pension...
Dangerous Conversations In The Workplace
In my last newsletter I talked about the dangers of social media when it comes to work. But what about conversations in the workplace? What can’t you say and do? Free Speech The playwright, writer and poet Oscar Wilde famously said: “I may not agree with you,...
Asda Loses Latest Round In Equal Pay Case
Asda store workers have won a crucial round in the battle against the company to be paid at an equal rate as warehouse workers. In a case which started in 2016, thousands of store workers, who are predominately women, have argued that they should be paid at the...
Social Media: Protect Yourself!
Brexit, Covid, Megxit… millions of people share their views online every day. A quick lunchtime tweet on Twitter, sharing or liking a post on Facebook: most people think nothing of it. Yet one ‘in-the-moment’ comment could put your job at risk. We’ve dealt with...
No Jab, No Job: Can your employer insist that you have the Coronavirus vaccine?
This question is going to recur many times this spring and summer but as with many employment law issues, there’s no straightforward answer! Most peoples’ contracts of employment are silent on the issue of whether employees must have the coronavirus vaccine...
Landmark Uber Case – What’s It All About?
Last week, the UK’s Supreme Court, Britain’s highest court, gave a ruling on a landmark case brought by Uber drivers against Uber (Uber BV v Aslam and Others). The Supreme Court ruled that Uber must treat its drivers as workers rather than as self-employed...
Banks and ICO Regulations
Affinity has raised an issue that affects members across the banking industry with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Whilst this particular concern related too Lloyds Banking Group it has implications industry-wide. The ICO has confirmed to the union that...
Will Working From Home Stick?
Whilst we can now see the light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel with the roll out of three vaccines, it’s still going to be a difficult few months for us all. The issue of what’s going to happen to those staff who have been working from home since the...
Lloyds Signals Major Branch Closure Programme In 2021
Lloyds Banking Group, where Affinity has the largest membership of any trade union, is offering grades A and B staff in its three main brands the opportunity to move permanently from branches to work in customer service roles based from home. Those roles –...
The Future Of TSB
It seems that the writing is on the wall for the future independence of TSB. The news that Spain’s second biggest bank BBVA has pulled out of merger talks with Sabadell because they couldn’t agree a price, confirms our worst fears: that TSB will be sold off....
Affinity and Coronavirus Health Protection Regulations In TSB
By refusing to change its retail service offering to customers, TSB is breaching the Health Protections Regulations, which put the lockdown rules into law. TSB has so far refused to change its retail strategy to reflect the fact that we are now in a national...
Landmark Legal Case Continues In The High Court
In previous Newsletters, we reported that the second part of the union’s landmark legal case on Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) would begin in the High Court in May 2020 and would be heard by Mr Justice Morgan via Skype. Following that hearing, Mr Justice...
Legal History
The stakes couldn’t get much bigger. If our landmark legal action, which was covered widely in the national press, is successful female workers across all industries who are in or were in defined benefit pension schemes will benefit to the tune of some £13...
COVID Update: Key Developments That May Affect You
As you’ll no doubt have read in the press, the Government has made several key announcements on how it plans to address the rising number of Covid-19 cases and how it plans to mitigate the effect on jobs. 1. The Job Support Scheme This scheme, as the Government...
TSB To Axe 164 Branches & Get Rid Of 900 Jobs
The future of TSB (where a significant number of Affinity members work) as an independent bank now looks in jeopardy. Today, it’s announced that it will be closing 164 branches between January and June 2021 and making 900 branch staff redundant. There will also...
Flexible Furlough
What’s Changing? The Government has announced that from 1st July, the furlough scheme is changing to a flexible scheme, where employers can bring furloughed staff back to work for any period of time, on any shift pattern, whilst still claiming a grant for the...
Covid-19 – Further Government Announcement
The government has finally published detailed guidance of what it expects from employers in various work settings and 5 key actions it expects employers to implement as soon as practical:"1. Work from home, if you canAll reasonable steps should be taken by...
Covid-19 – Further Government Announcement
The government has now published the more detailed brief referred to in the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday; the full document can be read here. What is most noticeable about the government’s brief is that it contains very little detail on the key issues,...
Government Covid-19 Announcement Sunday 10th May
This evening the Prime Minister announced what he described as the Government’s plans for handling the “next phase” of the Covid-19 pandemic and a set of options for England. Key employment points of his announcement were: people who can work from home should...
COVID-19: Updated Guidance On Furlough
The Government has confirmed that employees can start a new job if they have been furloughed. This means that potentially, an individual can earn 80% of a salary from an existing, furloughed job and 100% of a salary from a new job. Specifically, the Government...
COVID-19: What’s ‘Furlough’ and the ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’?
The Government has introduced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, under which all UK employers will be able to access grants to continue paying part of their employees’ salaries, for employees who would otherwise have been made redundant following the...
COVID-19: Should You Be Going To Work?
All our advice on the key issues can be found on the COVID-19 Advice Hub section of our website, which can be viewed here. Following the PM’s announcement on Monday 23rd March about staying at home (click here for the Government’s instruction) some members are...
COVID-19: Schools Refusing To Accept Key Worker Children
We’ve received numerous calls from members who have been told by schools that, in their opinion, the members are not key workers, or they don’t qualify for school childcare because only one parent is a key worker. It seems that cases are largely being decided...
COVID-19: Vulnerable People
As at 20th March 2020, the Government is advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures.This group includes those who:1. are aged 70 or older (regardless of medical...
COVID-19: School Provision and Key Workers
Are You A Key Worker?Schools, and all childcare providers, have been asked by the Government to continue to provide care for a limited number of children, including those whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response.The Government has published a list of...
COVID-19 (Coronavirus): Statutory Sick Pay Entitlement
Self-IsolationThe Government’s latest advice (as at 13th March 2020) is to stay at home if you have either:a high temperaturea new continuous coughYou will also need to self-isolate if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have returned from an affected...
Bah Humbug – Lessons From The Christmas Party
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that every January, we receive calls from members being investigated for their alleged misconduct (or gross misconduct – that is misconduct justifying dismissal) at their office Christmas parties. Allegations have...
Employment Contract Changes: Learning From Asda
The media have been reporting Asda’s announcement that unless staff sign a new, less favourable employment contract by 2nd November, their employment will be terminated. The new contract increases wages to £9 per hour but removes long-service benefits, paid...
Affinity Newsletters
Affinity’s Newsletters provide you with a regular source of important information that’s easily accessible and understandable.
To receive copies by email simply send your membership number and email address to 24hours@workaffinity.co.uk