Russell HR Consulting

Earlier this month Barclays Bank found itself in a truly astonishing situation when it was ordered to continue paying a part time employee at the same rate as a full time employee. 

So how did it come about?  The bank discovered Mrs Keenan, who worked part time had been receiving salary at the full-time rate for a number of years. She was being paid £17,000 instead of £9,500. Mrs Keenan had believed that she was receiving the correct salary because she had been promised a pay rise when Barclays took over her previous employer, Woolwich Building Society.

Barclays asked Mrs Keenan to return the overpaid amounts. Mrs Keenan responded by bringing a tribunal claim.

The employment tribunal found that Barclays was obliged to continue paying Mrs Keenan at the full-time rate. Mrs Keenan had no actual knowledge of the mistake and could not have been expected to know about it. She genuinely thought she was entitled to the higher salary.

To avoid similar situations happening to your business, make sure your managers are trained. Our employment law training helps to eliminate risk and promote the culture of ‘prevention is better than cure.’

Contact our team on 0845 644 8955 to find out how we can assist you.

Employment Law Training- Get Up To Speed

Kate and the team are pleased to announce that we have taken the preliminary steps into becoming a Limited company and we will be announcing the launch of Russell HR Consulting Ltd very soon so watch this space…

In the meantime, we have taken on 2 new team members to deal with the increasing demand for our services.

Christine Goode will be joining us from the beginning of August as a part-time HR Generalist.

Andrea Hughes will also be joining the team from late September as a Senior HR Generalist covering the Midlands and North.

Both new team members will be a welcome addition to Russell HR Consulting and we look forward to working with them.

Following on from our previous blog entry, we have had the pleasure of working with another HR Management student from Northampton University Business school, Lisa Molina.  Not only did Lisa bring a bright and happy smile to the office every morning - she also cooked us one of her national dishes and brought it in for us all to try! Here is what Lisa had to say about her work experience with us.

I am currently going into my third year, studying Human Resources Mgt/Business and have been searching for work experience that can boost my knowledge and skills in my career path. I must say am glad and proud to say that I have achieved that experience with Russell HR Consulting.

I have had the opportunity to observe the process involved when selecting employees that will/might be eligible for redundancy by using the skill matrix system. Ability to observe different stages involved in disciplinary action depending on case presented.

I learnt about different updates regarding employment law and people personnel for instance the New Equality Bill 2010 and the Permanent Health Insurance schemes, I had to research on how this is affecting age discrimination. Due to the controversy of these subjects, I found out that this could make a good dissertation topic. Also did a research regarding the Agency Workers Directive  for one of Kate’s future talks.

I learnt how to use the database for clients and prospects and how to update the system, I also learnt some office administration for instance, basic introduction regarding filing and data input and update of the accounts file. Gathering relevant information through research for benchmarking purpose. The process and ability to retain clients by making ‘keeping in touch’ calls.

I also had the opportunity to observe and follow up a welfare meeting, learning about the COT 3 agreement process and checking the errors and updates of a company’s handbook which was discussed with Kate.

Most importantly, I had the opportunity to link the HR link with business, by observing how two companies can liaise with each other to maximise their clientele and also how the Russell HR Consulting team work together to promote, provide and deliver the best service for their clients. Moreover the team has made a great effort in making the experience a very interesting and formative experience that will never be forgotten

I would recommend most students to gain work experience as there is a positive impact on the knowledge gained, as theory is put into practice. At least now I can say I have some EXPERIENCE when searching for jobs and I am looking forward to gaining more skills and knowledge with Russell HR Consulting team in the future.