With the Xmas holiday season fast approaching and employees looking forward to the last public holidays of 2014 (Christmas Day & St Stephen's Day), I thought it would be useful to remind you about how public holiday entitlements for employees should be dealt with, as determined by the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.

This month I will be looking at some topical workplace cases in respect of the Xmas holiday season. A gas fitter had his appeal against his dismissal turned down by the EAT recently (UD888/2013)in respect of his refusal to work on Xmas Day 2012 as per a roster that had been published the previous February.

The importance of allowing employees to be made aware of and have the opportunity to respond to complaints against them before being dismissed was highlighted in this case (UD 1665/2012 & MN 259/2013) when the claimant won her unfair dismissal claim.

A grievance procedure is one of the essential procedures that all employers must have in place and issue to employees.

In this appeal (UD 826/2013) against a previous Rights Commissioner Recommendation the employee's dismissal whilst deemed to be harsh was not held to be unfair as per the Unfair Dismissal Acts

This week I will deal with some commonly asked questions about different HR Topics.

Following on from my summary last week of what constitutes gross misconduct in the workplace,this recently published case (UD/323/2012) illustrates how gross misconduct dismissals can be fair and reasonable if the sanction is relevant to the specific business objectives of the employer.

What is gross misconduct and how does it differ from normal misconduct? Is there such a thing as instant dismissal?

A female lecturer was awarded over 80k compensation when the Equality Tribunal determined that she had suffered gender and disability discrimination for almost 10 years in a male dominated working environment.

Are they necessary and what are the potential issues that can arise when introducing a dress code in the work place?