Susan's Legal Bits

Each month Susan Hickman the HR Manager here at Gabem will be doing her best to fill us in on the latest legal issues relevant to umbrella company workers.

Susan would also like to hear from you so, if you have an issue you would like her to comment on in her "Legal Bits," please get in touch here, she'd love to hear from you.

Susan's Legal bits updates at the beginning of each month.

This month Susan is interested in...

...the Bribery Act

Hi everyone,

Its great to see a bit of sunshine at the moment and for those of you gearing up to working outdoors during the summer months I hope sunscreen is on the shopping list !

This month I have been extremely interested in the Bribery Act which, after a bit of a drawn out guidance launch, is now set to become ‘live’ as of 1st July 2011.

Of course here at Gabem I try to stay one step ahead so those of you who are currently employed in our umbrella company product will have already received correspondence on this but for all my readers I wanted to talk a little about the unlawful acts and how to stay compliant.

The Bribery Act 2010 makes it extremely clear that we must not offer, accept or fail to prevent a bribe.  It is also clear that everyone has to take responsibility for knowing this law and maintaining vigilance.

There are absolutely no circumstances where offering or accepting a bribe is ‘okay’ and this means that we must all take any offer of a cheeky backhander much more seriously as it is highly likely to be defined as a criminal activity.

The definition of a bribe is the offering or receiving of a ‘reward’ which induces the improper performance of a business function or activity.   It is therefore completely different to the offer of a discount or loyalty reward to clients who are continuing to work with a company in the proper way.  What would be considered improper, however, would be the encouraging of clients or an individual working for a company with whom we work to break their internal or industry procedural rules in return for a weekend away in the Bahamas.

I’m happy that no Gabem staff here in West Sussex have ever been successfully bribed – this is perhaps because we have high employee standards, regular training and excellent controls in place - of course it works the other way too, in that Gabem have never offered a bribe to any individual to try and ‘cut corners’ or induce the individual to act improperly in the world of business.

Unfortunately there are others out there that have perhaps used a reward theory to entice individuals to throw business their way thus breaking internal rules where no supplier should be favoured.  This I am sure has come under close scrutiny by MDs and FDs and strict instructions put in place over the last few months ever since we were notified that the implementation date was to be 1st July 2011.

Anyway, rather than casting my thoughts towards those that may fall foul of this legislation I’m pleased to tell you of our policy on bribes and corruption – so for those of you who work with Gabem in any way whatsoever (suppliers, advisors, employees, contractors) please familiarise yourself with the anti-bribery and corruption policy we have in our download section here on this website.

As with all things Gabem, if you have any queries or concerns please do get in touch.

Have a great lead up to Summer!

All comments provided on my blog are for informational purposes only. My thoughts and opinions are my own with agreement from my employer as being suitable for sharing with the wider world. Any advice, or writing that might be taken as advice, should not be deemed in any way as professional Legal advice and are only the musings of a HR practioner whose sole aim is to help where she can.