THE GUARDIAN - 19 DECEMBER 2005

GIZBERT'S PRIVATE WAR

Richard Gizbert is not a household name in Britain but he is now a famous face in British newsrooms, becoming the first journalist to use health and safety law to dispute his dismissal after he refused assignments to a war zone.

The London-based journalist had worked for the US network ABC for 11 years and previously covered conflicts including Bosnia and Rwanda . But having become a British citizen, and with two teenage children, he refused to go to Iraq , citing ABC News' voluntary policy on correspondents covering wars. ABC later declined to renew his contract. Now he has won a year-long battle for unfair dismissal. He could, he claims, win up to £2.3m compensation - a further hearing to fix the level of the payment will be held later this year.   

HOW HR2all CAN HELP...

Health and Safety Regulations and Statutory Dismissal Procedure

It is tempting to dismiss this story as being specific to war zone journalism and irrelevant to your business but can you answer the following questions:

• What are my health and safety obligations to my employees?
• What automatically constitutes unfair dismissal?

If you're uncertain about the answers then you are risking heavy financial penalties and even imprisonment.

HR2all Beprostaff provides you with:

• Comprehensive health and safety information
• Step by step statutory dismissal procedures
• Legally required documentation
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DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY - 01 FEBRUARY 2006

REDUNDANCY PAYMENT CHANGE

With effect from today ( 01 February 2006 ) the maximum amount of a "week's pay" for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment has increased from £280 to £290.

HOW HR2all CAN HELP...

Redundancy Procedures

HR2all Beprostaff provides clear information on handling redundancy situations, and our legal helpline is happy to discuss individual cases.

Because HR2all Beprostaff is an online service, you can be confident that the content is updated to reflect regulatory changes as and when they happen. There are no update discs or email instructions to follow.