Times are tough for UK farmers at present, with high energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis combining with the aftermath of Brexit and the pandemic to force many farming families to tighten their belts.
One obvious way of saving costs is to reduce staffing numbers, with lay-offs, short-time working or redundancy all possible options. Kalpesh Nakeshree Head of Employment Law at Pearsons & Ward in Malton, outlines the legalities and potential pitfalls of these courses of action.
Lay-offs and short-time working If you need to reduce your staff-count for only a short period, you could consider laying off an employee. This involves asking them to stay home or take unpaid leave until you need them on the workforce again. Alternatively, you can ask your employee to agree to short-time working, which sees them working fewer hours.
You can usually only lay off staff or put them on short-time working if their employment contract allows for this – even if lay-offs are a national agreement for the industry or a collective agreement between you and a trade union.
However, you may be able to lay off an employee or put them on short time working if you can prove that this has been widely accepted in your organisation over a long period, or if you can persuade them to change their employment contract.
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