May

"One in five UK employees admits to regularly taking drugs, and a third suspect that a colleague may have a drug problem, according to new research that suggests the increase in the use of illegal substances may be starting to make itself felt in the workplace. The study of 500 employees and 500 employers, from Crossland Employment Solicitors, found that just two in five firms (40%) have a drugs policy and only 23% have tested their staff for drug use. But Aron Pope, partner at law firm Fox Williams, said employers must have ""good reason"" to justify testing their employees for drug use. ""Because of the intrusive nature of drug testing, employers must have a good reason to justify a policy of testing staff, and should always consider whether there is a less intrusive means of monitoring employees,"" he said. Pope reminded HR professionals that ""in view of their health and safety obligations, employers are able to take action to deal with employees who use drugs outside of work in certain circumstances""."

For much of 2015, the UK Government has focused its attention on illegal workers, over-stayers and rogue employers. Over the last couple of months, the Home Office have been running 'Operation Magnify ' to target those companies employing 'lower-skilled ' labour, such as construction sites, care homes and cleaning companies and check for illegal workers. Since the announcement of Operation Magnify, the renewed focus has certainly been demonstrated by a number of high-profile and unannounced raids by Home Office immigration officers which have received wide-spread coverage in the press. Take the following steps to protect your business: 1. Make sure your employee on-boarding process includes robust checks. 2. Keep records up to date and store document securely. 3. Be transparent about your document checks. Increasingly stringent regulations, coupled with potential fines of ?20,000 per illegal employee and the negative publicity surrounding a raid means that document checks are something that no company can ignore. All employers need to make sure that they have processes in place to adhere to the most current legislation and prove their compliance.

A director at a Leicester-based clothing company and a director at a Scottish restaurant are the latest to be disqualified for recruiting illegal workers. Asimali Alihusen, a director of Leicester-based AJ Design, has been disqualified from acting as a director for seven years, while Harcharan Singh Sekhon, owner of restaurant Bombay Blues in Glasgow, has been disqualified for six years from being a director of a limited company. Following a joint investigation by the Insolvency Service and the Home Office, Alihusen was found to have allowed AJ Design to employ 17 illegal workers. AJ Design went into liquidation on 12 June 2015 owing ?270.6k to creditors, including a ?255k fine for employing illegal workers. Meanwhile, an Insolvency Service investigation found Singh Sekhon failed to ensure relevant immigration checks were completed and copy documents retained, which resulted in the employment of four illegal workers. All of the illegal workers at the restaurant were also found to have been paid less than the National Minimum Wage - ?6.70 for those aged 21 and over, ?5.30 for 18-20-year-olds, ?3.87 for workers aged under 18 and ?3.30 for apprentices.