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Q: An employee has been employed as a clerical receptionist for eighteen months now, and she is bipolar. I sat with her and pointed out aspects of her work that could be improved, and gave her the opportunity to put her own points forward. I had a review three weeks later and she seems to be making some progress. However, I feel that she is not making enough improvements, as she came in to work without wearing her full uniform. What is the best way for me to deal with this?
A: Perhaps this would be more of a conduct issue this time rather than a performance issue, so you could look to investigate this and hold a disciplinary hearing, and maybe impose a low level sanction. She may argue that her conduct is due to her medical condition, in which case you will need to seek further information from her GP before proceeding. Alternatively, you could have an informal chat with her and draw a line under this instance, warning her that she should wear her full uniform in future, or face disciplinary action.
I want to reduce the amount of holidays my employees get per year. There is nothing in the employee contract that gives a specific amount of holiday pay but employees have always taken a fixed number for many years. Is it legal for me to reduce their holidays without consent?
read moreAn employee of mine is already on a final written warning as she previously shouted at a service user. She received her first written warning for speaking inappropriately and speaking aggressively to colleagues. Another colleague has come forward saying that they are very upset with how aggressively the employee has spoken to her and now two other colleagues have reported that the employee is now abusing a particular service user. The first incident was when the employee grabbed the service user by the arm aggressively when double-handling. The second incident was shouting at the service user when they were incontinent. I have had the investigation with the employee and received two statements regarding both separate incidents. They are very similar in nature. My employee has stated that she is aware that sometimes she can be abrupt and she becomes stressed, but she always helps her colleagues and would never hurt a service user. What should I do about this situation?
read moreIf an employee works 10 hours in a day with 1 hour for lunch and then four 15 minute breaks, is the working day 8 hours?
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