This Q&A looks at age discrimination, maternity and adoption leave and the monitoring of employee emails.
Q: Will it be illegal in all circumstances to treat employees of different ages in different ways when the new age discrimination rules come in?
No. The new rules, which take effect on 1 October 2006, make it clear that in general you should be treating all your employees equally, irrespective of their age. However, you can still treat employees differently if it’s objectively justifiable to do so. For example, it may not be safe for your youngest or oldest employees to carry out certain tasks.
Q: Are adoptive parents entitled to the same paid leave as biological parents?
There are some differences. While all pregnant employees are entitled to 26 weeks’ leave with statutory maternity pay, an adoptive parent must already have worked for you for 26 weeks before getting the same period of leave with statutory adoption pay. If there are two adoptive parents, only one is entitled to the 26 weeks’ paid leave. However, the other person (whether it’s a man or a woman) can claim paid paternity leave. Note that the length of paid maternity and adoptive leave will rise to 39 weeks in 2007.
Q: Am I allowed to monitor my employees’ use of email and the internet?
Yes, but this is a very sensitive area, so proceed with great caution. In general, you should inform your employees (in their employment contracts, for example, or in an internet policy) that you intend to monitor email and internet usage. Many employers log details of the addresses that emails have been sent to and from, rather than email content. In limited circumstances, you can check the contents of emails without an employee’s consent. These include ensuring that no laws are being broken and checking email when staff are on leave.
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