Looking behind John Sergeant

At a time when John Sergeant, the dancing pig, is filling the front pages, there are significant employment issues tucked away. But, let’s face it he even gives ‘dad-dancing’ a bad name. John Travolta he is not!
Back to business, the EU is considering banning women from returning to work within six weeks of giving birth. New mothers could also receive full pay for longer. Some may agree with this but will there be a loss of choice?
A report last week identified that the pay gap between men and women widened to 17.1 per cent last year.
The government seem to be on a yo-yo with their plans to allow applications for flexible working and contract variations for carers of children under 16. First we had the proposal, then it was put off by Lord Mandelson and now we hear it may be back.
Are employers in the SME sector going to offer jobs to women of child-bearing age? Oh yes, I know it is illegal but it is difficult to prove at the recruitment stage.Finally I see that not only are SME’s going to the wall because of banks cutting credit, their friends in the insurance industry are proposing to increase the cost of employee liability insurance by 6-8%.