“I told my employee she couldn’t book next Monday off as a holiday, but I’ve heard she’s going to call in sick. What can I do?”

If she’s off, process it as a sickness and carry out your normal return to work process, which should mean holding a meeting with her and discussing why she was off.

Then, if you still suspect she’s lying about her sickness, carry out a full investigation. If the evidence gives you a reasonable belief that she faked her sickness, take disciplinary action.

“Can I dock money from my employee’s wages?”

Only in some cases. As well as deductions for tax and National Insurance, you can deduct money if you have a contractual right to do so or if your employee agrees in advance to it.

The exemption is when your employee owes your company money because of an overpayment of wages or expenses.

But if you deduct money without the right to do so, your employee may raise a complaint and it could lead to a tribunal claim.

“We’re taking on a new company but don’t want its entire staff, only some. Is this a redundancy?”

As long or as short as is necessary—there’s no minimum or maximum consultation period when you propose to make fewer than 20 people redundant.

Instead, you must consult meaningfully. The number of meetings in a meaningful process depends on several factors, including:

The number of people you’re consulting with; whether anyone raises alternatives to redundancy during the consultation, and whether you and your employees consider them.

Employers Direct’s team of qualified legal experts are here to solve your staff management problems. Call free and in confidence today on 0800 144 4050