Category: Employment
Like with most legal jargon, “employment at will” has both a formal definition and a practical one. In this case, the theory is easy. The basic definition of “employment at will” says the employer or the employee may end the working relationship at any time and for any reason without fearing legal action. This means the employer can fire or lay off the employee whenever they want. According to the theory, the employers do not have to explain why they fired their worker.
This definition also claims the employee may choose to quit his or her job at any time. Under such circumstances, the worker does not have to give the employer the reason for leaving his or her current position.
On its face, this is a simple law that should work for both the employer and the employee. Unfortunately in practice, “employment at will” is not so clear. While most states follow the formal definition, many lower courts have passed laws to cancel the employer’s rights. All of these laws have created many exceptions to the formal definition, and employers must keep this in mind if they need to fire someone.
Definition of Employment at Will: What It Means For Employers
So what does this mean for you, the employer, if you need to fire an underperforming employee? It’s simple. Wise employers do not fire employees without a reason and claim protection under “employment at will”. This is true even if you live in an “at will” state.
Almost every “at-will” state has exceptions an employer must consider. To make the situation more complex, these exceptions vary widely from state to state. It is a good idea to contact your state’s labor office to find out the laws that apply to you.
If you fire an employee and that person becomes angry, you could find yourself in a wrongful termination lawsuit. And as an employer, you don’t want these legal proceeding to go to court. Most courts favor the employee. This leaves the employer at the losing end and that costs time, money and productivity.
So how do you avoid such lawsuits? It’s a good idea for all employers to have standard termination procedures in place.
First, make sure you have an employee handbook with rules and regulations of the workplace. All employees must be aware of its contents. Second, make sure no manager fires an employee without giving a reason. Third, have standards in place so the reasons for termination are legal and fair. Fourth, train all managers in progressive discipline. Using this proven method, an employee termination will never take a worker by surprise. This will reduce their overall anger at the company.
It is true that “employment at will” suggests an employer doesn’t own an employee an explanation for losing his or her job. However, this simple definition does not translate directly into practice. Never depend on the formal definition of this law to protect you from a wrongful termination lawsuit.
The Ministry of Manpower grants Singapore Employment Pass that is usually valid for one to two years to eligible applicants. Employment Pass provides comfort to foreigners in terms of travelling in and out of the country. The work visa is renewable as long as the pass holder remains employed in a Singapore company. It also provides chance to pass holder to apply for a permanent residence status.
Employment Pass is required for any entrepreneur who has just incorporated a Singapore company and desires to move to Singapore. Moreover, the work visa is also required for corporation looking to relocate their staff such as managing directors and management staff of the company.
We have provided basic considerations on how to be qualified, eligible and how to get approved for a Singapore Employment Pass. Please read on and take note of these details:
Eligibility Requirements:
Recognized educational diploma/degree
Professional qualifications
Specialist skills
Basic Considerations Assessed by The Ministry of Manpower:
Salary
Age
Roles & responsibility
Related work experience
Companys background
Companys paid up capital
Current citizenship
Basic Documents to Furnish:
The above qualifications should be satisfied first before securing the following documents: resume or CV stating your educational and employment history, copies of educational certificates and past employment testimonials, and a copy of your passport details. However, any documents that are not in English must be translated into English by an official translation service. In addition, there are three Employment Pass groups, P! for applicants earning a salary of more than S$7,000, P2 for salary of more than S$3,500 up to S$7,000 and Q1 for salary of more than S$2,500.
Service of a Professional Firm:
For processing of your application, you need to hire the services of a professional firm who will apply in your account for your Employment Pass. They will be the one to apply online to The Ministry of Manpower, as the application method is shorter. It normally takes 1 to 15 days to issue an approval. Once approved, the Ministry of Manpower will issue an In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter via email. The IPA letter must be produced upon collection of the EP at the Work Pass Division at Ministry of Manpower. An IPA letter is valid for Six months from the date of notification of approval.
A new employee may not have a P45 due to circumstances of first job, student, first employment in the current financial year, immigrant worker, P45 lost or perhaps not issued by a previous employer or issued late. If a new employee does not give the new employer a P45 on the day employment commences then the employer has a responsibility to ensure the new employee completes a P46 form
Completing the Inland Revenue P46 form is the method an employer uses to advise HMRC about the employment of a new employee who does not have a P45.
2. P46 forms should be sent to HMRC on the first pay day they are paid allowing a short period of time for a new employee who does not have a P45 to obtain one.
3. A new rule was introduced from 6 April 2008 if the employee has ticked either box A or B then the P46 revenue form does not have to be sent to HMRC until that employee earnings reach the lower earnings limit. PAYE records still need to be produced by the employer but official notification to HMRC is not required unless the lower earnings level is exceeded.
Should the earnings of the employee continue to be below the lower earnings limit then the earnings and employment would still be advised to HMRC on the P35 annual employers return.
4. If the new employee does not complete the Inland Revenue P46 form before the first pay day then the new employer should complete section one. Section one includes the employee name and address, date of birth and national insurance number.
5. If the employee does not have a national insurance number then the employer must also advise the job centre. It is important to advise the authorities when the employee does not have a number to avoid illegal employment laws. The P46 revenue form can still be submitted to HMRC without a national insurance number who have the facility to trace the number from the information supplied.
While preferable for the employee to sign the P46 form the P46 tax form can be submitted by an employer without the employee signature.
6. If the employee does not complete the P46 the employer must deduct tax using a BR tax code taxing all earnings and excluding personal tax allowances.
7. The tax code to be applied to new employee earnings is dependent upon when the employee joined and which of the boxes A, B or C are ticked on the P46 tax form.
If box A is ticked then apply the emergency tax code which from 6 April 2008 is 543L and after 7 September 2008 and the new tax code 603L. Tax is deducted on a cumulative basis. If box B is ticked then apply the emergency tax code which from 6 April 2008 is 543L and after 7 September 2008 and the new tax code 603. Tax is deducted on a week 1 or month 1 basis.
If box C is ticked then apply the BR tax code. Income tax is deducted on cumulative basis.
If none of the boxes A, B or C are ticked then apply the BR tax code and deduct tax on a cumulative basis.
8. If the new employee has ticked box D then student loan deductions should be made with effect from the first pay date provided the earnings level for deduction of student loans has been reached. Refer to the student loan deduction tables at Student Loan Table to determine how much should be deducted.
9. P46 forms can be filed online by an employer. When the Inland Revenue P46 form is filed online the employer should also have kept a record of how the information submitted was obtained.
10. Before the P46 Inland Revenue form can be filed online the employer must have obtained the facility to do so by registering with HMRC for a PAYE scheme. The HMRC website contains free software that can be used for this purpose.
If you are a supervisor, there are parts of your job that you love. You may like the responsibility, or perhaps you enjoy bringing out the strengths in your employees. Unfortunately, there is likely one area of your job you dislike: employee paperwork.
With supervision of employees brings what feels like a mountain of administrative paperwork. From an employee write up to an employment letter of recommendation to employment offer letters, forms can feel overwhelming.
The a href=”http://www.theofficepress.com/employee-write-up.htm”>Employee Write Up pile can be especially daunting, as the employee write up brings with it many negative emotions. Not only do subordinates feel embarrassment or anger at the site of an employee write up, but many supervisors are uncomfortable discussing one. An employee write up can easily turn into a confrontation instead of the learning tool it was meant to be.
For an employee write up to be beneficial, not just for the individual, but for the company, it must be handled appropriately by the supervisor. The language of the employee write up must be extremely clear and come across as attempting to help the employee get back on track, not as an effort to sabotage a career.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is an employment letter of recommendation. If a subordinate is in good standing, an employment letter of recommendation is a good experience for everyone involved. An employment letter of recommendation is a perfect opportunity for positive affirmation.
An employment letter of recommendation can be for a transfer, or an employment letter of recommendation can help a former employee start a new job. When you seek to hire, employment offer letters make your intent official. Employment offer letters must be very clear and well-written.
Because a href=”http://www.theofficepress.com/employment-offer-letters.htm”>Employment Offer Letters are not frequently used in small business, as employment offer letters are only needed if a company expands or replaces a position, they are sometimes over-looked. Employment offer letters are important, however, as employment offer letters may impact the decision of your top recruits.
Even though paperwork may not be your favorite part of the job, these forms serve an essential function. From happy occasions like an a href=”http://www.theofficepress.com/employment-letter-of-recommendation.htm”>Employment Letter Of Recommendation to the often- dreaded employee discipline papers, paperwork is inevitable.
Services do exist to help save time and increase positive outcomes of all the forms discussed here, and more. With these services, your paperwork tasks can be a very manageable part of the day.
Labor experts tell us that 8 out of 10 hiring professionals do some form of pre-employment background screening. Yet many medium and small businesses and are still dependent on traditional methods of pre-employment background screening, such as checking up on references. This article explores why many SMBs avoid professional employment background checks, and the risks and dangers of doing so.
Why Many SMBs Don’t Do Pre-Employment Background Screening
Lack of concern. Some SMB managers believe that only cops, teachers, and doctors should be subject to employment background checks. That point of view is outdated. Nowadays, many private companies are consistently performing pre-employment background screening, for the reasons listed in the second half of this article.
Lack of Internal Support and Expert Knowledge. Many SMB leaders assume that any pre-employment background screening they do must be done in-house. The prospect of training an employee to carry out background checks is intimidating to most managers, especially since it could very well take a person months to research the best background check procedures. However, partnering with pre-employment background screening outsourcing firms allows all companies quick, convenient access to employment background checks.
Overestimation of Cost. Many SMB leaders hold a misconception about pre-employment background screening, namely that it’s exorbitantly expensive. If you’re open to the possibility of outsourcing your employment background checks, you can typically conduct pre-employment background screening for no more than $50 per job candidate.
Top 5 Reasons Why SMBs should Conduct Employment Background Checks
1. Decreased Costs. You’ll find better job candidates if you conduct pre-employment background screening. Improved hiring means that you’ll spend less money counteracting negative PR, lose less money to negligent hiring lawsuits, and see fewer employee-generated losses, such as embezzlement. Finally, it’s typically much less expensive to outsource employment background checks, rather than doing them in-house.
2. Fewer legal trip-ups. Each state has its own law in place regarding negligent hiring. These laws are intended to protect the public by preventing dangerous individuals from being hired for delicate positions. As an example, many states’ alcohol laws require that employees have three years of felony-free history before they can be hired for a job that involves serving alcohol. Failing to check out candidates backgrounds through pre-employment background screening opens you to the risk of being sued or fined for failing to do your due diligence on new hires.
3. Safer Employees. Human Resource gurus estimate that 1 out of 10 job applicants have a criminal history. If you don’t carry do employment background checks, it’s more likely that you’ll hire a dangerous individual who could hurt your employees, your customers, and your business’ reputation.
4. Accelerated hiring. The majority of pre-employment background screening companies offer results in 48 hours. In this sense, outsourcing employee background checks can mean speedier hiring. In just a day or two, you can get the information you need to determine if that seemingly perfect candidate has any skeletons lurking in his or her closet.
5. Discover dishonesty in applications. Here’s another scary HR statistic for you: researchers calculate that approximately 4 out of 10 resumes feature deceitful omissions, if not total lies. Employment background checks reveal such dishonesty so that you can avoid hiring mendacious individuals.
As we’ve seen, there are many reasons why owners of small and medium-sized businesses should arrange employee background checks.