Don’t slip up.
In addition to our roster of 70 world leading speakers, the Property Academy has a number of Trusted Advisors – each an expert in their field who provide quarterly sessions for our members on topics covering HR, Finance, Marketing and the Economy.
Last week, many of our members were shocked to learn about an aspect of the current pandemic that could impact some companies even more than the virus itself has done.
Jo Haigh, who originally trained as a lawyer and went on to become an accountant, (in her words, “I wasn’t boring enough so traded the law for accountancy!”), delivered a session last week for our members, on their responsibilities as directors. She told a true story of an employee suing their employer because they slipped and fell in the shower at home. The grounds for the case is that home is now the workplace and the shower was taken during a work break. I bet I’m not the only one to think “how ridiculous” but we’ll have to wait to see how the courts decide – if in the employee’s favour it won’t be the first or last time that what most would regard as common sense isn’t in fact how the law operates. The fact that this claim can even be made at all is indicative of a time bomb that’s about to hit – the lack of a duty of care to employees with regard to their working at home.
Jo believes there will be a flood of claims, (indeed she wonders if this is possibly the next PPI), with ambulance chasing firms encouraging employees to have a go – and if they’ve been made redundant or feel aggrieved at their treatment, then what’s the betting on how many will take action?
Jo has provided all Property Academy members with 8 templates relating to different aspects of directors/employers responsibilities. We’re now making the one relating to risk assessment for working from home available to all our four-i subscribers – if you’d like a free copy just send an email to peter@propertyacademy.co.uk
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