HR:ER

HR Professionals, take note! When an employee hands in a sick note citing “work-related stress”… what happens next could make or break your legal risk. On the latest episode of HR:ER, we sit down with Simon Anderson - barrister at Park Square Barristers and serial winner in complex workplace harm cases. What we unpack: ⚖️ How often stress leave turns into tribunals - and why. 🚩 Legal red flags HR...

Where do we draw the line on “any other duties as required”? From junior staff cleaning up excrement 🧹 to graduates being sent to move cars to dodge parking tickets 🚗 - some workplace “extras” cross into unreasonable (and unsafe) territory. In this HR:ER episode, our HR consultancy digs into: - What really counts as a “reasonable” duty? - Who gets to decide when the line is crossed? - When does...

We went down the Reddit HR rabbit hole - so you don’t have to! In this episode, our HR consultancy unpacks real workplace dilemmas pulled straight from Reddit’s most popular HR threads. 👉 What should you do if an employee vanishes on short-term disability? 👉 What’s the best way to onboard your staff? 👉 How do you handle final pay for an employee who has passed away? 🎧 Tune in, share your thoug...

In our latest podcast, we bust the most common employment law myths - and reveal what employers really need to know to avoid landing their business in tribunal. We cover: - Why “no contract = no liability” is a dangerous assumption - The truth about dismissing during probation - What makes restrictive covenants actually enforceable - Legal risks around long-term sick leave - Why wage deductions fo...

A false rumour, claims of micromanagement, and an accusation of trans-related bias - but the employee says she isn’t transgender. Is this workplace discrimination? In this HR:ER episode, our HR consultancy dissects: - What the law actually says about gender identity following the Supreme Court Ruling - How to separate performance management from potential prejudice - The risk of discrimination cla...

A new chef wants the job - but only if they’re “self-employed” to skip tax. What would you do? 🍳💵 From dodging tax to walking the legal tightrope of contractor vs employee, our HR consultancy dissects: ⚖️ Where the legal line really is ❌ Employer risks of getting it wrong 🤔 Who’s really self-employed-and who’s not Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling a team, don’t guess your wa...

An autistic support advisor works overnight, misinterprets tasks, and leaves chaos by morning. Is it a performance issue — or a failure to accommodate? That's what our HR consultancy must dissect in our latest episode! ⚖️ What reasonable adjustments really look like 📉 How HR should approach neurodivergence with performance issues 🧠 Legal and ethical risks of mishandling autism at work Our CPD DE...

One phone call. One moment of distraction. One life almost lost. That's what our HR consultancy had to deal with when a delivery driver, carelessly using his phone, hit a pedestrian — and claimed, 'It wasn’t that bad.' 📲 Is using a phone while driving gross misconduct? ⚖️ Can employers be held legally responsible if a pedestrian is killed/injured? ⛔ Should you suspend staff immediately after a r...

Sick leave or sly lift? A personal trainer calls in for a "medically required" procedure… but rumours swirl it was a Brazilian butt lift 👀. As HR tries to sort fact from filler, tensions rise: ➡️ Should cosmetic surgery qualify as medical leave? ➡️ Who decides what’s “medically necessary”? ➡️ Can your boss ask what kind of surgery you had — or is that crossing a line? Plus: What happens when rumo...

Can you dismiss an employee for not speaking English? 💬❌ With almost 1 million people in Britain unable to speak English fluently, our HR consultancy team addresses a real-life case where an employee’s English skills were poor, causing issues with performance management. Mishandling could leave you wide open to claims of unfair dismissal or discrimination. Tune into HR:ER to hear how we handled...

Dead bodies and broken hearts 🚑💔 In this week’s HR: ER, our HR consultancy treats two wild workplace emergencies: A trainee paramedic at a private ambulance company who couldn’t cope with a key part of the job—dealing with dead people. A husband-wife duo working in a small team… until an affair with a colleague blew everything up. Cue fist fight, slashed tyres, and countless grievances. From tac...

A veterinary nurse is struggling with a mental health crisis, convinced that people on TV are speaking directly to her 😱📺. Now, here’s the challenge—figuring out if this is a well-being issue or a capability issue, all while ensuring the safety of both animals and colleagues. 🐾 Follow the HR:ER episode to hear how our HR consultancy dealt with it! 🎧 Our HR software, with performance tools from...

Our HR consultancy solved a tricky situation: an employee signed off sick was unengaged at work—tears in meetings, refusing to engage… But the next day? She’s all over Instagram promoting her business and calling herself a #GirlBoss. 🤳💁‍♀️ Tune into HR:ER to find out how we treated this emergency: ➡️ When does it become misconduct, and can you dismiss them? ➡️ Should social media activity factor...

That’s how one employee feels—he says it makes the workplace "a nightmare". But is this just a difference of opinion or gender discrimination? How should HR respond? Our HR consultancy is breaking it down in HR:ER: 🤔 Are awareness days effective or just corporate box-ticking? 👨 Should International Men’s Day get the same spotlight? 😬 Is discomfort around IWD a sign of gender discrimination? 💰...

Emotional Support Animals at Work: Reasonable or Too Far? 🐱 One employee says their emotional support animal helps manage anxiety—but coworkers are complaining about allergies, hygiene, and distractions. ⚖️ What’s a fair accommodation, and what’s impractical? 🗒️ What authority does a doctor's note carry? ⚠️ What workplace issues come with support animals? What’s the right balance for employers? T...

When Does Banter Become Sexual Harassment? What happens when workplace "banter" crosses the line? In this episode, our HR consultancy deals with a real HR crisis: a junior employee reports their supervisor for graphic sexual conversations, dismissing concerns as just "a teenage boy's dream." We Diagnose: - The fine line between joking and harassment - How power dynamics impact workplace behaviour...

Over the past year, we’ve tackled some of the wildest workplace emergencies you could imagine. From "Is sniffing a shirt sexual harassment?" to "HR hires a murderer," and even "When are you too fat to work?" – these jaw-dropping scenarios are real cases we’ve handled through our HR consultancy. In this special birthday episode, hosts Elissa and Oliver take a trip down memory lane, sharing their pe...

During a routine ID check, a candidate sent… a nude selfie. 😳 Yes, you read that right. It’s one of those moments our HR consultancy never saw coming. So, what’s the next step? 🤳 Is this considered sexual harassment? 🔒 Could it violate privacy or data protection laws? 🤝 What’s the right move with this candidate's offer? Our platform integrates TrustID, making ID checks simple, secure, and hass...

What do you do when an employee alleges bullying and a "conspiracy" against them—while refusing to cooperate with investigations? And to top it off, they reveal they've secretly recorded over 300 hours of workplace conversations, including toilet visits? 😱 This is the crisis our HR consultancy handled in our latest HR:ER episode! It raises BIG questions for HR, including: 👉 Are secret recordings...

UK businesses lose over £183 million annually due to employee theft. As an HR and business leader, you play a pivotal role in safeguarding company assets. In the latest episode of HR:ER, our consultancy faced a challenging scenario: an employee was dismissed, stole the company car, and escalated tensions when HR visited their residence to retrieve it, resulting in threats of trespassing from famil...

It’s all fun and games until a holiday party goes off the rails! Recently, our HR consultancy tackled a case that got everyone talking. Dave got a bit too merry at the Christmas party - he climbed onto a table, stripped naked, and then told the CEO to f*ck off… 🎄🙈 Catch the full story and our expert advice on handling holiday party chaos in the latest episode of HR:ER. Follow now - and if you’re...

Ever had an employee disappear without a trace? Imagine this – an employee goes radio silent for five days, only to return with an astonishing tale of a “mistaken kidnapping.” Is it real, or just a bold cover-up? In our latest podcast, we tackle this jaw-dropping HR emergency and dive into the challenges employers face with missing team members. Here's what we break down: 🔍 Fact vs. Fiction: Step...

How do you handle a rule-breaking employee who faces complaints for misogyny, then when confronted threatens to expose an alleged affair with HR? That's what our HR consultancy tackles in our next HR:ER episode! We share our emergency measures to stop sexual harassment from happening in your workplace. Got a workplace emergency of your own? Reach out to us and our expert lawyers will help you conf...

How should HR handle an employee's property seized by police?💻👮 Our HR consultancy recently helped a business uncover that an employee, involved in a major criminal drug ring, had their work computer seized by police. The issue only surfaced when the employee requested another computer for work, prompting our further investigation. It was imperative HR acted with caution. Even when an employee i...

What do you do when a long-standing, trusted employee is caught lying about their qualifications? 💡🫠 Our HR consultancy tackles another workplace crisis! Natalie, a senior accountant on track for a promotion to director, was asked to provide proof of her chartered accounting qualifications - only to reveal that her CV was riddled with lies. As the truth unravels, we dissect how could this slip t...