Employment

Abbey Santander Group Demonstrates Appeal Stages And Court Structure In Employment Disputes

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The appeal stages and court structure in employment disputes in the UK is demonstrated by the high-profile Chagger v Abbey National plc & Hopkins (2006) legal case, where the Employment Tribunal found race discrimination and made the record breaking 2.8 million compensation award. Abbey National Santander Abbey (the UK high street bank soon to be re-branded as Santander share, and being part of the Banco Santander Group) ended Balbinder Chagger’s employment in 2006, giving redundancy as the reason. However, Mr Chagger believed the real reason behind his dismissal was race discrimination. Mr Chagger (of Indian origin) was employed as a Trading Risk Controller. He earned around 100,000 a year and reported into Nigel Hopkins, his manager.

If an employee has suffered unfairness and/or discrimination in employment then he could decide to appeal. The first point of appeal may be to the employer, in the form of a formal grievance. The employee lodges the formal grievance with the employer. The employer is responsible for hearing the grievance and deciding its outcome. The employer is, thus, given the opportunity to deal with the employment dispute and to close it satisfactorily. However, Mr Chagger’s issues were simply dismissed out of hand by the Banco Santander Group company.

If the parties cannot resolve their employment dispute between themselves, then either party may appeal to an Employment Tribunal for an independent resolution of the dispute. Employment Tribunals will hear disputes concerning unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and discrimination. Mr Chagger eventually appealed to the Employment Tribunal by starting legal proceedings against both Santander Abbey National and Mr Hopkins on the grounds of race discrimination and unfair dismissal. The Employment Tribunal heard the case and concluded that Mr Chagger had been both dismissed unfairly and discriminated against on the grounds of race in respect of his dismissal, by both Mr Hopkins and Santander Abbey National. The Employment Tribunal took the rare step of ordering Abbey Santander to reinstate Mr Chagger in order to remedy the wrong of race discrimination it had committed. Santander Abbey National, however, refused to comply with the Employment Tribunal’s reinstatement order. Following Santander Abbey National’s failure to comply, the Employment Tribunal subsequently ordered Abbey Santander to pay Mr Chagger the record breaking 2.8 million compensation for his loss on the basis that he had not been reinstated.

The employee/employer that is dissatisfied with the Employment Tribunal’s decisions may appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The EAT will consider appeals against decisions made by Employment Tribunals. The grounds of appeal must be points of law (i.e., the appeal must be about errors in the legal reasoning of the Employment Tribunal’s decision). The EAT will not reconsider issues of fact. Santander Abbey National and Mr Hopkins appealed to the EAT against the Employment Tribunal’s decision of race discrimination and against the award of 2.8 million compensation. The EAT heard Abbey Santander’s appeals. It decided to uphold the original Employment Tribunal’s finding that Mr Hopkins and Santander Abbey National had discriminated against Mr Chagger on the grounds of race in respect of his dismissal. However, it accepted Abbey Santander’s appeal on the record breaking 2.8 million compensation award and remitted the compensation matter to the original Employment Tribunal for reconsideration on the basis of the likelihood of Mr Chagger leaving Santander Abbey National’s employment in any case.

The party that is dissatisfied with the EAT’s decisions may appeal to the Court of Appeal, being the second highest court in the land. The Court of Appeal will consider appeals against decisions made by the EAT. Once again, the grounds of the appeal must be points of law (i.e., the appeal must be about errors in the legal reasoning of the EAT’s decision). The Court of Appeal will not reconsider issues of fact either. The Santander Abbey National case was appealed to the Court of Appeal; the Court of Appeal’s website showed the case was heard this month, on 7 and 8 July 2009. The Court of Appeal’s records concerning the hearing were not available at the time of writing this article. According to 11KBW set of chambers, the hearing was limited to the issue of compensation only (i.e., not to the matter of race discrimination also). That would suggest that the wrong of race discrimination committed by Santander Abbey National and Mr Hopkins seems to have been finalised by the EAT, which upheld the original Employment Tribunal’s finding that Mr Hopkins and Abbey Santander had discriminated against Mr Chagger on the grounds of race in his dismissal.

The party that is dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal’s decisions may appeal to the House of Lords, being the highest court in the land. Any appeal to the House of Lords requires the Court of Appeal’s approval and the Court of Appeal must also certify a question of general public importance that the House of Lords needs to decide upon. Again, appeals to the House of Lords must be about points of law and not about issues of fact. The House of Lords is the final stage of appeal for most legal cases in the UK. However, rare cases may be permitted for appeal to the European Court of Justice, which has jurisdiction on matters of European Community law.

What Kind Of Employment For Senior Citizens Is Available

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Is employment for senior citizens available for men and women, and are there any age qualifications to meet? Does a senior have to be in top physical condition, or are infirmities allowed?

Are your carefully laid plans for a pleasant tour, although perhaps not royal, through your golden years seem to be stalling? Will employment for senior citizens be the answer to your dilemma?

You are not alone? The same feeling is infecting your senior citizen neighbor next door, your sixtyish friend down at the retirement center, your old buddy in the bowling league and your aging sister in Buffalo.

The truth is, you have options! We all do. Too often, we seniors tend to feel betrayed by our government and left to fend for ourselves at the mercy of an indifferent panicking society. Scrub away those thoughts!

You are no different than the forty old accountant that was cut loose by his business firm, or the thirty five year old new car salesman who is left to his own devices.

You are just older than them, but you have a lot more going for you than they do. Most of their experiences and trained talents and skills are still down the road in front of them. Yours are spread out in a panorama behind you.

Look back at your life. Now is the best of times for you to make the things you have learned over the years put you up in front of the growing crowd of employment seekers.

If you were to write down all you have experienced, dealt with, learned from, overcame, and grown from, it would fill an entire library shelf.

Don’t you think that from all of this knowledge and living you can find some things that would increase the performance and productivity of an employers business.

Don’t you realize that the sum of all your hands on training and acquired talents and skills would be of great value to some employer?

There are wheelbarrow loads of gold nuggets kicking around in your head, my friend. Grab hold of a few of them and transform them into that perfect job you are now dreaming about.

It is not as hard to accomplish this as you may think!

Here is a valuable gem of knowledge and fact that should stir up the juices inside of you.
Most vacant employment positions are not even advertised!

Whoa! What does this tell you?

There is no competition for these jobs outside of word of mouth. Why? There are many reasons why this is so.

Maybe the job has not been defined by the manager yet, he knows that the need exists but what will he call it? You can step in and give him a definition. Do some advance homework.

A harried business owner is overworked and wishing for a fairy godmother to wave her wand and provide the perfect assistant. Check out the company and tell him how much easier you can make his life, and earn him more profit as a byproduct.

You read an item in the newspaper, or saw it on the TV news, about a business making substantial growth spurts. That is your cue!

Call the company and inform them all the things you can do for them, and let them know you will be stopping by tomorrow, would he or she have time to spend a few moments with you.

Where can you look for employment for senior citizens? In your own head! Take advantage of your own experience and skills.

There are jobs out there waiting for you. Be creative and bold. It
will happen!

Replacing P60 The Easy Way

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A P60 form

At the end of each fiscal year, you will receive a P60 form from your employer, which shows your total amount of pay for income tax purposes and how much has been deducted in tax and National Insurance over the tax year. P60 is an important document – and therefore, make sure you keep it safely each time you receive it.

You will need your P 60 form when you want to do your tax return, claim back any tax that you have overpaid, or apply for tax credits. Besides that, the P 60 form also lets you know whether your employer is using the correct National Insurance number and deducting the right amount of National Insurance Contribution. And lastly, you may need it as a proof of your earnings when you want to apply for a mortgage or a loan.

As mentioned earlier, your employer will issue the P60 form at the end of each tax year, which falls on April 5. This is, however, provided you still work for your employer by then. If you are no longer employed before the fiscal year ends, you will only be given a P45 form at the end of your job. Often, employees do not receive their P 60 forms even after the tax year has ended. If you are one of them, do not hesitate to ask for it from your employer as you are entitled to it by law if you still work for the employer.

When receiving your P 60 form, make sure the following information is included in it:
Tax year to 5 April
Employer PAYE reference
Employees National Insurance number, if known
Employees name
Employees payroll number
Pay and tax in previous employment
Pay and tax in ‘this’ employment
‘Total for year’ pay and tax
Final tax code including the ‘Week 1’ or ‘Month 1’ indicator if applicable
National Insurance Contributions information
Employers name and address
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) paid – if applicable
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) paid if applicable
Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) paid if applicable
Student Loan Deductions in ‘this’ employment if applicable

It is quite common for employees to lose their P60 forms, or in some cases the forms are rejected because they are damaged or hand written. When one of these happens to you, we can help you replace them. We offer high-quality P60s that are prepared on approved Inland Revenue forms. Basically, you only need to tell us four things:

1.Your employer’s full address including postcode
2.Name of your employer’s tax district
3.Your employer’s tax district number
4.Gross salary paid in that financial year
With this information and our fully computerized payroll system, you are guaranteed to receive accurate results.

Other than that, we also provide payslip calculator on our website that you can use for free. By using this salary calculator you will be able to know whether your employer has been deducting the right amount of tax and National Insurance Contribution from your salary. What you need to key in are details of the gross monthly pay and PAYE coding.

Google Adsense Self Employed Taxes Helping You Know Your Responsibilities

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Estimated Tax Payments: If you are a sole proprietor, a partnership, or a shareholder in a Sub-chapter S corporation, you are considered self-employed. Since you don’t have an employer deducting taxes from your pay throughout the year, you are responsible for making advance payments of your estimated federal income tax. Estimated tax payments are due quarterly – on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 – and are filed on a Form 1040-ES. At the end of the tax year, you will file a final Form 1040 with a Schedule C, which itemizes your business expenses for the whole year.

To avoid underpayment penalties – which are substantial – individuals whose adjusted gross incomes were under $150,000 need to have paid at least 100 percent of their prior year’s tax bill. People whose incomes were over $150,000 need to have paid 110 percent of the amount they owed in the prior year.

It’s in your interest to make your estimated tax payments during the year. This system also keeps you from owing a large sum of money all at once, which can be overwhelming. If your state of residence has income taxes, as most do, you will have to make estimated tax payments throughout the year for state taxes as well.

2. Self-Employment Tax: Your estimated tax payments will also include the federal self-employment tax – Social Security and Medicare. If you were employed by someone else, your employer would pay half of your Social Security and Medicare and the other half would come out of your paycheck. Self-employed people must pay the full amount themselves; however, 50 percent of the self employment tax is deductible on the 1040 form.

What if you are a salaried employee and you operate a home-based business as a sideline? In this case, you’ll be filing both the usual Form 1040 and a Schedule C for your home business deductions; you may also have to pay additional self-employment tax. No matter how little your sideline income is, you should be aware that it is subject to tax – although by taking advantage of the home-office deduction, you may find you owe little or no taxes.

3. Employment Taxes: Home-based workers who employ others must comply with many additional tax requirements. IRS Circular E, Employer’s Tax Guide, covers the federal regulations, and your state tax agency can inform you of state requirements for employers with regard to income, state unemployment, and workers’ compensation taxes.

If you employ your children or grandchildren, their earnings are deductible. Family businesses do not need to pay Social Security or unemployment taxes on minor children, and the children pay no income taxes on the first $3,000 of earned income. To substantiate this claim, keep time records of their work (the records will be more believable to the IRS if a non-relative keeps them), note the work done, and pay family at the rate you would pay a non-family member for the same work.

4. State and Local Taxes: Depending on where you live, you will face a variety of state and local tax requirements. All but nine states (Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada, Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Texas, and Washington) have state personal-income taxes. But even those may have taxes on business. For example, Florida levies an income tax on corporations. Some cities, like Kansas City, have earnings taxes apart from the state income tax; others have unusual taxes on business. New York, for example, taxes unincorporated busines

Book Review The General Theory Of Employment Interest And Money by John Maynard Keynes

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It seems that most editorials about John Maynard Keynes are have an tremendous political slant and are generally done by those who have never even read this book. Primarily they are against his core conclusion that broadened government participation is required in the economy for stabilization functions. The key to comprehending Keynes is the idea that at unique times in the business cycle, an economy can become over-productive (or under-consumptive) and consequently, an agressive spiral is started that results in considerable layoffs and cuts in production as businesses try to balance aggregate supply and demand.

Thus, full employment is simply one of several or multiple macro equilibria. If an economy reaches an underemployment equilibrium, something is necessary to enhance or spark demand to generate full employment. This something could possibly be business investment but The General Theory Of Employment states because of the logic and unique characteristics of investment choices, it is less likely to rapidly reestablish full employment.

Keynes logically seizes upon the public budget and government expenditures as the shortest way to restore full employment. Borrowing the money to fund the deficit from private households and businesses is a fast, direct approach to restore full employment while at the same time, redirecting or transfering off the funds from the private sector which prompted the over-production in the first place. This book is essential to understand modern economics.

There are many things The General Theory Of Employment and Keynes was right about as well as completely wrong about. However, understanding his perspective is important when weighing alternative viewpoints. It is also important to compare his ideas with the actions of governments. You will at times see massive deviations from his theory into areas that he never suported to such extent that he wrote an open letter to FDR protesting his actions while trying to recover from the Great Depression.

About the Author: Walter provides over a decade of market information, economic knowledge and other great book reviews on his website http://bidhitter.com.

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