Risk news

A Fair Employment Commission has been proposed by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) in order to protect staff from abuse and exploitation.

The organisation sees a need for such a body as its branches have handled 107,000 incidences of employees complaining of such ill treatment in the past two years.

If such a proposal were to come to fruition the CAS has suggested that Holyrood and Westminster would need to work together to make it effective.

It is thought those who have sought the advice of the CAS may be a small fraction of the total number of employees north of the border being treated unfairly in the workplace.

CAS noted in its Fair Employment report that the route which staff must take with work related issues is far from comprehensive as the Health and Safety Executive and National Minimum Wage enforcement division also have a statutory responsibility to workers.

An umbrella body with a wider remit would make the process easier for many looking for help, the CAS said.

Susan McPhee, head of policy at CAS, said: "As a society we might have hoped that workplace exploitation was a thing of the distant past. Sadly, this report shows that many Scots are still being treated unfairly."

The report suggested that a side effect of the recent economic downturn is that instead of carrying out redundancies some firms have kept people on but in less favourable conditions.

Ms McPhee said: "Examples include illegal changes to contracts, unfair dismissal, low pay, withheld wages and victimisation of those who have tried to demand their rights."

Around 200 citizens advice bureaux were set up in 1939 across the UK with the first one in Scotland opening up in Glasgow with Edinburgh and Aberdeen following closely afterwards until 60 were functioning north of the border throughout World War Two.