The World Cup and Employment Law Issues - Yes Really!

Love it or hate it, football is the national pastime and the 2014 World Cup is almost upon us.

Many people will have been lucky enough to get tickets to go watch a match in Brazil, or some may want to stay home and have a “staycation” in the UK to watch it. The Chief Executive of Rural Retreats has stated that 'We’ve noticed an increasing trend for UK holidaymakers to plan their summer holidays around sporting events, such as Wimbledon and the Ashes”

With this in mind, you may find that more employees than normal want the same time off. The question is, can your business handle a large reduction in the workforce at the same time?

The first step is to check your policies on annual leave to see how competing requests are dealt with. If this is quiet on the matter, you will need to consider your options.

ACAS previously published guidance to assist employers faced with the Olympic Games which advised employers to be:

• Flexible - in your approach to dealing with requests;
• Clear - in what you expect from your staff during this period;
• Communicate - any policies on the issue;
• Honest - tell your employees what will happen;
• Fair - don’t play favourites, stick to your method.

The last thing anyone wants is for someone to feel like they’ve been treated unfairly. Combat any possibilities of discrimination claims and deal with the requests in a fair and consistent way. This could be as simple as “first come first served”, or by the luck of the draw.

It’s quite well known that a happy workforce is a productive workforce. With this in mind, with previous sporting events some employers have found that it’s a good idea to agree to short term flexible working with their employees. For example, an employee may want to vary their start and end times, compound their hours (i.e. work longer hours during the week and take half a day off on big match day), or even work from home. If you are thinking of implementing any of these changes, document it. Ensure that all parties know that this is a short term allowance and any abuse will not be tolerated.

The bottom line is treat everyone fairly, consistently and keep people informed.