Introduction
The Ebenezer Tea Rooms has acquired three new premises and one other business in the last two years, experiencing rapid growth in size. Following this growth, many issues concerning the new and existing workers arose. This report analyzes and presents possible answers to the questions raised after The Ebenezer Tea Rooms’ expansion. It reviews if the staffing needs to be increased, the new owner can change Tim’s Tea Rooms’ staff contract, and how to manage casual staff properly. Individual cases of Fred, Jacob, and Bob, regarding hiring disabled people, workplace ethics, workplace injuries, and redundancy are also reviewed. The paper considers each issue from the Human Resources Consultant’s perspective and advises handling every situation based on the Laws of the United Kingdom.
The Issue of Staffing at The Ebenezer Tea Rooms
The Ebenezer Tea Rooms have seven branches that serve tea and sandwiches and shops for takeaway products. The company hired 70 people overall, so there are 10 workers, including part-time, full-time, and casual workers, per branch. The suitable number of staff members depends on the variety of menus, size of a restaurant, working hours, and services that a restaurant provides. The owner should consider the variety of services offered, the sizes of branches, and their revenues to determine whether Ebenezer Tea Rooms need new employees.
Despite the absence of specific rules about staffing in the Laws of the United Kingdom, owners should not forget that the performance of their business depends on staffing and could worsen due to workforce shortage. The United Kingdom currently has high labor demand as the workforce shrank by 1.6 percent from the first quarter of 2020 (Houston and Sissons, 2022, para. 4). Understaffing causes productivity reduction and affects the quality of the offered service (Lynn, 2002). Moreover, workers become exhausted due to the amount of work, which puts a business at risk of losing its employees. Over half of the understaffed companies report their inability to meet demands (Casey and Murphy, 2021). Therefore, Ebenezer Tea Rooms could consider hiring more employees to prevent increased workplace stress and improve productivity.
The Issue of Tim’s Tea Rooms’ Staff
Tim’s Tea Rooms owner changed when The Ebenezer Tea Rooms bought their premise. According to the United Kingdom Laws, Transfer of undertakings, or TUPE, applies when the owner of a restaurant changes (Suff, 2022). TUPE declares that the transfer should not affect the employment contract for transferring employees (Chandran, 1996). It protects workers from any changes unless they occur due to economic, technical, or organizational reasons (Clark and McGrath, 2021). The Ebenezer Tea Rooms want to prepare new contracts to reduce transferred employees’ holidays and stop offering them discounts, so employees on all the premises have equal opportunities. However, new employers can only change contracts if new conditions benefit employees and do not abolish their current employment rights (Government Digital Service, 2012a). In this case, the reason for the change is the transfer itself, and it would not benefit employees, so the contract cannot be prepared under TUPE. However, Ebenezer Tea Rooms can try to find an economical, technical, or organizational reason to change employees’ contracts. The company owner should wait some time, so transferred employees do not attribute a reduction in holidays and discounts to the transfer.
Managing Casual Staff
Many employers wonder if casual workers must have a contract. Casual or zero-hours contract workers are employed to perform specific duties on an irregular basis and often are not referred to as employees (Zero-hours contracts, no date). Therefore, casual workers cannot be entitled to statutory pay and do not receive numerous benefits (Government Digital Service, 2015b). The Ebenezer Tea Rooms are not required to pay additionally if casual staff works on weekends and holidays. Even though employers do not have to provide written contracts, they are still obliged to present a written agreement to their workers (Martin and Broadbent, 2022). The law requires an employer to “give employees and workers a document stating the main conditions of employment when they start work,” so business owners cannot avoid paperwork even if their workers are casual (Government Digital Service, 2012b, para. 1). Casual staff’s contract should include a job title, duties, pay rates, and other general information (Right to written terms, no date). Zero-hours contract workers may not receive many benefits, but they should still have a written statement with general working terms and conditions.
Hiring People with Disabilities
The Law of the United Kingdom protects people with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace. The Equality Act 2010 does not allow employers to treat disabled people unfavorably because of their special needs and deny disabled people a job solely because of their disabilities (Government Equalities Office, 2010). Therefore, denying Fred, the candidate with disabilities, after reviewing his application where he mentioned his hearing problems, is against the law. Employers must adjust the workplace for disabled candidates to provide equal opportunities with non-disabled employees (Government Digital Service, 2015a). Nevertheless, some positions have duties that disabled employees cannot do despite reasonable adjustments. In this case, employers should conduct an interview or training with the candidate and reject them only if their performance is unsuccessful (Government Digital Service, 2015c). The Ebenezer Tea Rooms cannot deny applicants consideration due to their disabilities, so they should consider all candidates for their desired positions equally.
Workplace Theft and Discrimination Issues
The Ebenezer Tea Rooms received two complaints about a casual worker, Jacob, stating that he discriminates against the LGBTQ community and pockets money from tips. According to Intact research, Businesses in the UK lose about 183 million pounds because of employee theft, so employees often steal at work (Office Supplies Survey, 2022, para. 7). However, there was no evidence of Jacob’s theft apart from other worker’s words. He was known to be a good employee, so The Ebenezer Tea Rooms could consider gathering more evidence against suspected staff members before dismissing them. Employers should discuss the issue with the worker, and in case theft occurs, they can consider disciplinary actions or dismissal.
Research revealed that LGBTQ workers get bullied at work more often than heterosexual employees in the United Kingdom (Hoel, Lewis, and Einarsdottir, 2017). Moreover, non-heterosexual workers often experience sexual harassment, including unwanted attention in the workplace (Denissen and Saguy, 2013). The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from being discriminated against and endangered at work because of their sexual orientation. Therefore, employers can consider dismissing employees if they act inappropriately towards other workers or customers.
Safety at the Workplace and Redundancies
The Ebenezer Tea Rooms cannot make Bob, the employee who became disabled after his injury, redundant. Employers are only allowed to make their workers redundant if their businesses or particular branches are going to close or if they need fewer employees (Clark and McGrath, 2021). Besides, The Ebenezer Tea Rooms may not benefit from dismissing Bob as expected, as employers must pay redundancy payments to their staff members (Employment Rights Act 1996, s.135). An appeal to the case where an employee became disabled after an accident and could not perform his duties was dismissed in London (JP Morgan v Chweidan, 2011). The employer reduced his payments and made him redundant, but the court decided no discrimination based on disability was detected since the employer dismissed other, not disabled employees. Therefore, business owners should have a solid reason for making employees redundant and cannot discriminate against workers with disabilities.
Conclusion
This report thoroughly considered six issues with employees at The Ebenezer Tea Rooms. It was suggested that the owner should assess the restaurants’ revenues and sizes and possibly consider employing more workers to improve productivity and services. The Ebenezer Tea Rooms cannot change the contracts of employees transferred from Tim’s Tea Rooms unless they benefit from the changes and agree to them or the business finds a valid economic, technical, or organizational reason for changes. Casual staff at the premises are not required to have a contract, though the employer must provide a written agreement stating their job title, duties, pay rates, and other working conditions. The Laws of the United Kingdom prohibit any workplace discrimination based on disabilities. Therefore, all the candidates should be considered for positions and assessed based on their performance during the interview. The owner should gather enough evidence to dismiss an employee for workplace theft. Discriminating against employees because of their sexual orientation is unacceptable under The Equality Act 2010. Valid reasons are required to make employees redundant, and the law does not allow dismissing them because of their disabilities or other health problems.
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