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BriefingsMishcon de Reya Recruitment Watch - April 2008
WelcomeWelcome to the April 2008 edition of Mishcon de Reya's Recruitment Watch, prepared by the Firm's Recruitment Services Group. Its aim is to provide those involved in the recruitment sector with a snapshot of what has been happening in the world of recruitment in the last month. NewsPolicyAs part of new legislation introduced on 6 April 2008 recruitment agencies may have to pay unlimited damages if they do not take reasonable steps to protect employees from sexual harassment caused by their customers and suppliers. The government is holding secret talks with the European Commission over planned EU legislation that would increase the rights of temporary and agency workers, in a bid to avoid an embarrassing defeat. Recruitment agencies that do not check that the staff they have supplied are fit for purpose could be prosecuted under the new corporate manslaughter rules according to experts. HM Revenue & Customs has extended the deadline for registering under the new Money Laundering Regulations from 1 April 2008 to 31 May 2008. Recruiter, 2 April 2008 MarketThe quarterly Job Pulse survey carried out by Hotonline Network has found that online jobseekers are still confident about securing positions despite the slowdown in the labour market. The slowing UK economy will impact on graduate recruitment according to Brian Finn, a business economist. The banking crisis has had a negative impact on the jobs market in the IT and computing sector as well as the financial services sector, according to surveys by the recruitment industry. The monthly report on the jobs market by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation for March has shown a modest increase in permanent staff appointments along with strong growth in temporary staff appointments. Trends/PracticeOver 60 recruitment agencies have signed up to JobSearch, the UK's first online gay and lesbian job database and website. A poll of more than 220 HR directors by Personnel Today has found that three in four employers don't check social networking sites when hiring new employees. Ted Daywalt, managing director of VetJobs.com, has warned that UK job boards face constant attacks from hackers and scammers, putting recruiters and job seekers at risk. The City of London Police have asked recruitment agencies to be vigilant after a fraudster scammed recruiters out of £300,000 by using a false CV to secure a job with a non-existent overseas company with the recruitment agency then paying the wages of the temporary worker. CompaniesJobsite has agreed a deal to become the official online recruitment partner for the Evening Standard, Metro and London Lite newspapers. Healthcare Locums doubled its pre-tax profits from £3.09m to £7.32m in 2007. Recruiter, 9 April 2008 Michael Page International has slowed its expansion in the UK due to the weakening market for banking and finance jobs. Westaff UK has been bought out by David Mogul, the managing director of the recruitment company in the UK, and will now sit within the newly formed Fortis Recruitment Group Ltd. Jack Recruitment has acquired a majority stake in Aptus Group, creating a recruitment company placed in the top 40 in the UK. Eden Brown has announced record year-end results with a profit of £4.1m for 2007. Legal DevelopmentsCases An employment tribunal has decided that transsexual truck driver Vikki-Marie Gaynor was sexually discriminated against when his employer DHL dropped his shifts when he changed his name and started wearing female attire to work in a claim brought against DHL and the recruitment agency that hired him. Mishcon de ReyaThe next in our series of Recruitment Services Group Workshops held in association with REC and Recruiter Magazine will be on Wednesday 14 May 2008. The workshop entitled Debt Recovery: What the Recruitment Sector needs to know will be covering debt recovery procedures and the steps that can be taken by those working in the recruitment sector to recover outstanding debts quickly and effectively. Mishcon de Reya's Recruitment Watch is published by the Recruitment Services Group of Mishcon de Reya Solicitors who were established to meet the demands of their clients within the recruitment sector. The Group is made up of cross departmental specialist lawyers who are able to meet the diverse legal needs of the recruitment industry, with wide and varied experience within the sector and who have a proven track record in being able to meet the growing demand for a one-stop service amongst their recruitment clients. |
IMPORTANT: This briefing note is only intended as a general statement of the law and no action should be taken in reliance on it without specific legal advice. |