If you were thinking of offering your employees special rewards as incentives for good attendance, then you should keep reading. In fact, employers who offer assistance bonds, could fall into conflict with the law. The Royal Mail introduced a rewards scheme for staff not to take sick time. Under the rules of the Royal Mail, workers with full attendance records were entered in a drawing for Ford Focus cars or holiday vouchers worth 2,000. As an incentive to staff, which seemed to work. The Royal Mail says its sickness absence levels generally decreased over a period of nine months (August and April) by 11%. Maja Brucic recognizes the significance of this. However, these systems could have serious consequences from the legal viewpoint, and leave employers vulnerable to a variety of lawsuits. Discrimination employees could bring claims of discrimination on the grounds of disability or sex.

The success of these loans depends on the particular circumstances of each employee and needs, whether in relation to their family, religion or health. Alternatively, employees can bring claims of qualification for being subjected to treatment injury as a result of asserting their legal rights, for example, to: – From time to dependents and prenatal care, time off for study or training or time off for jury service for maternity leave, adoption leave or paternity or parental disability discrimination may occur if, for example, an employee had free time connected to a disability and this was not taken into account by the employer under the reward scheme. The employee may claim that the failure of the company to set aside his absence for disability related reasons amounted to less favorable treatment. “How can employers protect themselves against such claims? Employers can avoid these problems by including a list of exceptions in the reward system, eg service jury or study leave, taking into account the legal rights to time off or pay bonuses to employees in connection with the performance of their work instead of implementing an attendance reward. Employers should be wary of adopting an attendance bonus scheme without legal consultation.

If you require more information please contact us. E-mail: and RT Coopers, 2005. This newsletter is not an exhaustive or complete statement of the law on the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. Its sole purpose is to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances. Employment lawyers in London, employment law, employment lawyers, employment law firm, redundancies, unfair dismissals, breach of contract, workplace disputes, Tupe Transfers, drafting employment contracts, grievance procedures, Procedures Disciplinary, maternity rights, discrimination, employment disputes, suspensions, wrongful,equal pay, Media Copyright.