Federation of Small Businesses - FSB Weekly Brief 29

In this week’s issue: bullying, employment tribunal, the heat is on, organised crime, legal helpline, dry cleaning permits, business confidence, identity fraud, UK small business abroad.

1. Small firms feel bullied by new bullying laws
The FSB this week hit out at a House of Lords ruling that employers could be held responsible for bullying at work, arguing that it is an inappropriate solution that could drive up premiums for employers’ liability insurance. Stephen Alambritis, FSB spokesman, told the Sunday Times: “It’s very worrying because it opens the door to imposing a huge liability on employers so that they are totally responsible for all the actions of their workers.”

2. The chances of winning an employment tribunal
Research by Warwick Business School into the chances of small firms winning employment tribunals was trailed in the Financial Times this week. The brain boxes in Warwick concluded that well-established procedures were important for employers in winning cases. But Simon Briault, FSB spokesman, said that it was hard to overstate the importance of funds: “Big companies will get the best lawyers and throw money at the problem but small businesses don’t necessarily have those resources.”

3. Warm weather sparks clothing debate
Unless you’ve been living in a fridge, most of you will have noticed it’s been a bit warm this week. The warm weather has prompted calls for a relaxation of dress codes for employees and an upper temperature limit above which it would not be acceptable to work. A spokesman for the FSB sagely suggested in the Financial Times this week that employees could beat the heat while travelling to work (when discomfort often reaches its peak) by wearing lighter, more casual clothing and changing when they arrived.

4. Businesses signed up for organised crime fight
Law-abiding small businesses whose products are used by organised criminals could be forced to restructure their activities, sell assets or send lists of their customers to law enforcement authorities, under government plans to tackle organised crime. The FSB pointed out in the Financial Times that forcing small businesses to restructure was an enforcement too far.

5. Employment law still causing grief for small firms
The FSB’s 24-hour legal advice line, operated by Abbey Legal, is doing a roaring trade these days. Figures released for the first five months of 2006 show that it’s still all the employment legislation that’s keeping FSB members up at night. The new age discrimination legislation dominated the list of grievances, as outlined in the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times this week.

6. Permission to dry clean
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has issued a reminder to all dry cleaners that they will need a ‘permit to operate’ from October 31 this year as decreed in the EU Solvent Emissions Directive. Permits cost £134 (yikes!) and more info about how to get one is available on the Defra website – www.defra.gov.uk.

7. Business confidence remains steady
Unbowed by mountains of employment law, obligations to help fight organised crime and permits to operate for dry-cleaners, the plucky UK small business sector is still confident, according to a survey out this month. There’s been a rise of 4.1 points in small business confidence apparently. Find out what it all means here: www.europasurvey.org.

8. FSB leads the fight against identity fraud
Last year the FSB took part in National Identity Fraud Prevention Week (visit www.stop-idfraud.co.uk to refresh your memory) and will be involved in this year’s campaign as well. The focus this time round is on identity fraud committed by criminals raiding dustbins to gather confidential information thrown away by small businesses. Rosina Robson, FSB policy development officer, is looking for cases of small businesses that have had their identity and sensitive business information stolen through bins being raided, letterheads stolen etc. Please contact her on rosina.robson@fsb.org.uk if you can help.

9. Coming up next week…
Next week we will be treated to the long-awaited results of the competition to find the best overseas commercial attaché, which the Daily Telegraph has been running in association with the FSB.