I have recently made an employee redundant and I'm now being questioned about the process I have followed.

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Please can you pick through the above and let me know if I have not complied in anyway with the 'redundancy process'. Many thanks in anticipation.

Re; Quality Status. As a newly appointed Parish Clerk I am eager to help my Parish obtain Quality Status. Can you please tell me if it is a requirement of the Quality Status procedure that I gain the Certificate in Local Council Administration. Many Thanks.

Have a colleague who works with local workless people. One of his clients suffers from the condition dyspraxia, which effects fine motor skills. This individual applied for a job as a customer service assistant for a well known supermarket chain. He successfully passed the group interview stage, and was invited for a further one to one interview.

Following this interview, he was informed that he had been unsuccessful. After requesting feedback, he was told that although he displayed a good knowledge of customer service and demonstrated that he had carried out research on the Company, he was not offered employent as a result of "problems with co-ordination".

A letter was then sent to the organisation, expressing disatisfaction with the reasons provided, and the client felt he had been discriminated against due to his disability. The client has now been infomed by letter that an investigation is taking place, today however, he has received a telephone call and been invited in for a further interview. Should the client attend?

As a company can we insist on a uniform dress code even if this has not been put in any contracts? We have not insisted on this before.

Can I get a year paid time off work?

Please could you advise whether someone is legally entitled to time off work for a hospital appointment when they are working full time.

We have fixed term contracts of employment ending at the end of June. We have not yet been offered new contracts although these are anticipated. However, we had been told that if we do not intend to continue after the end of our contracts, we need to provide a letter of resignation. Please could you advise.

We pay freelance (self employed) tutors to deliver dance workshops during term times. One of our tutors is pregnant and is trying to claim maternity allowance. She was told by the Job Centre that even though she is freelance she may be entitled to SMP by us as she has worked with us for over 3 years. I am happy to pay her SMP but can not work out from all the various websites if she is eligible. She works for 3, ten week terms a year, with long gaps particularly over the summer and we pay her approx 240 per week. I dont know if this counts as continuous service. The baby is due in October and our end of term is June 28th. She isn't currently planning on returning in September but would for a few weeks if that would make her eligible. If she isnt eligible for SMP, she needs to prove that she worked for us for 26 weeks to get Maternity allowance. Sorry to ask another question about maternity pay but there seems to be very little information about self employed status.

We are being bombarded with offers for fire safety training at the moment, each citing new regulations - the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Could you please clarify the requirement placed on small organisations for providing fire awareness training for staff and appointing a fire marshall. Thanks.

Our trustees have suggested setting up a personnel committee, made up of 3 trustees, a member of the management team and an elected staff representative. The committee would oversee a review of HR policies, consider staff development and training and build closer links between staff and trustees. Are you aware of similar groups that have been established in other organisations (particularly organisations with under 20 employees), and can you provide examples of Terms of Reference that may be suitable to ensure the group remains focused? Thanks