Sue Tumelty, is founder and managing director of the Bristol-based HR Dept, which supports small and medium-sized businesses and organisations nationwide with everything employment-related, offering practical straight-talking advice on people management dilemmas.

Q. It's clearly winter as I've already had the usual number of lazy so-and-sos arriving late for work because of the weather. What can I do?

Sue: With gloomy weather forecasts expected for the weeks ahead you should put a bad weather policy in place for your staff now. But be reasonable! If people are late, could they make up the time later? Or if the weather gets really bad and roads are blocked, can staff work from home? However remind them that it is their responsibility to get to work - and if they don't attend you won't pay them.

Q. We have a great team who all work really hard and generally get on well. We provide services to executives around the country and our clients tend to be well off. Recently though, one of the team has started getting very political and quite vitriolic about things like bankers' bonuses which is irritating everyone in the office and, if our clients hear, could be awkward for us.

Sue: With some of the crazy recent rulings in tribunals about what constitutes a philosophical belief – including climate change - I am sure that hating bankers will end up as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act! However your team member does not have the right to damage your business so in the first instance take them aside and have a quiet word. Stress how much you respect their opinion but equally they must understand that not everyone agrees and political debates are better left outside of the workplace.

Q One of my delivery drivers was stopped for speeding again last week doing 40 mph in a 30 mph area near a school. It is likely that he will lose his licence this time and he wants me to do a letter to the court saying he may lose his job without a licence and that he is normally a safe driver. Should I do it?

Sue: Well at least he hasn't asked you to take his points for him. You can't lie to the courts so the first question is would he really lose his job? If there are no other duties he can fulfil, the answer to that is probably yes. However saying he is normally a safe driver when he already has nine points and was speeding near a school stretches the imagination too far!

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