Settlement agreements form an essential part of an employer's toolkit, providing a means to terminate employment on mutually acceptable terms without the risk of tribunal claims. Their success, however, depends on effective negotiation with the employee and compliance with technical rules.

Nick Chronias, partner at DAC Beachcroft LLP, joins us to discuss the key features of the settlement process including the following:

• starting a conversation with an employee around termination;
• the difference between "without prejudice" discussions and "protected conversations";
• the tax treatment of termination payments;
• confidentiality clauses;
• pitching the offer; and
• the technical rules that govern settlement agreements.

How should employers approach political discussions at work? Can employers prevent employees from displaying pro- or anti-Brexit paraphernalia at work? What about staff campaigning or protesting outside working hours? Will employers making redundancies because of Brexit really choose leave voters as the first to go?

We are joined by principal employment law editor Stephen Simpson to discuss five scenarios related to Brexit and political opinions at work.

With 29 March fast approaching, we talk to Louise Haycock, a director and immigration solicitor at Fragomen, about what employers should be doing to prepare for all Brexit scenarios.

Louise discusses the potential implications for employers of the various parliamentary outcomes, including the following:

• the impact on EU citizens working in the UK and vice versa;
• managing international assignments and business visitors;
• carrying out recruitment checks;
• using the settled status scheme;
• the status of Irish citizens working in the UK;
• supporting EU national workers; and
• reviewing your policies and procedures.

The recent decision of Awan v ICTS (UK) Ltd highlights the risk of dismissing an employee who is in receipt of permanent health insurance payments. Laurie Anstis, director with Boyes Turner LLP, explains the implications of the decision and the steps you can take to mitigate against the substantial financial risk of getting it wrong.

Presenter Laura Merrylees is joined by Laurie Anstis. 

Employee wellbeing is high on the HR agenda, given its relationship with improved business performance. We explore XpertHR's latest research based on the experience of over 400 HR practitioners around initiatives in five key areas: health; job-related financial security; working environment; work-based relationships; and job purpose. We look at the top three reasons for organisations running wellbeing initiatives, how you can get it right and the challenges you might expect to meet along the way.

Presenter Laura Merrylees is joined by Noelle Murphy. 

The #MeToo movement has become a global phenomenon and is rarely out of the news. But what should employers be doing to combat sexual harassment in the workplace?

Kelly Thomson, legal director at law firm RPC and XpertHR contributing author, gives us some top tips on the steps that employers can take to prevent sexual harassment. Kelly also gives her insight into how employers should deal with complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace and the key pitfalls that they should avoid.

Presenter Fiona Cuming is joined by Kelly Thomson.

Which employment cases will have the biggest impact on HR in 2019? We assess the likely impact on employers of upcoming cases on: the national minimum wage, shared parental leave, holiday pay, restrictive covenants, collective bargaining, covert CCTV, and employment status. The 2019 cases that we discuss pose the following questions: Are sleep-in care workers entitled to the national minimum wage while asleep? Is it sex discrimination for employers to enhance maternity pay but not shared parental pay? Is ambulance workers' voluntary overtime sufficiently regular and settled to be included in the calculation of holiday pay? Is a restrictive covenant that prevents an ex-employee from being "concerned or interested in" a competitor for six months too wide to be enforceable? Are employers permitted to make direct pay offers to employees "over the heads of the union" when collective bargaining breaks down? Is an employer that introduces widespread covert CCTV to tackle thefts breaching employees' right to privacy? Are Uber drivers "workers", entitling them to basic employment rights such as holiday pay? Presenter Laura Merrylees is joined by Fiona Cuming and Stephen Simpson.

In this roundtable podcast, members of the XpertHR editorial team reflect on the key employment law developments of 2018 and the impact of these for HR, including: Brexit; the GDPR; the apprenticeship levy; pay reporting; parental bereavement leave; and family-friendly policies.

With many of the changes likely to affect employers of all sizes and in differing sectors, we consider what employers need to do to prepare and plan for the year ahead and beyond.

Presenter Laura Merrylees is joined by Susie Munro, Stephen Simpson, Noelle Murphy and Fiona Cuming. Edited and produced by Chris Bryant.

Charlotte Billot-Taylor, Leader - Employee Relations, Policy & Advice at PwC, discusses her organisation's approach to flexible working and transparency around family-friendly policies. She shares the experience of PwC in introducing new initiatives designed around various flexible working patterns, and offers advice for any organisations looking to evaluate or modify flexible working policies or practice for employees. Presenter Noelle Murphy is joined by Charlotte Billot-Taylor.

Laurie Anstis, director with Boyes Turner LLP and updating author at XpertHR, focusses on how employers can avoid unfair dismissals when going through a redundancy exercise. Laurie covers when to seek volunteers, how to go about the consultation process, identifying and applying selection criteria, scoring those at risk of redundancy, avoiding redundancy problems and dealing with appeals against dismissal. Presenter Noelle Murphy is joined by Laurie Anstis.