Dear Member,   

In this week's e-zine we bring you details of a case of a manager who claimed gender discrimination due to a company not providing top up to paternity pay.

Each week in the SFA e-zine, we profile a different government support available to small businesses. In this edition, we focus on the One4All Bikes4work scheme, a free staff benefit which offers a bike and equipment up to €1,000 tax-free.

We bring you details of a SFA meeting with Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath ahead of Budget Day and of SFA's attendance at the third All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit. Find out more about the government procurement working group meeting where SFA voiced member concerns.

Don't miss your last chance to register for the SFA Employment Law Conference in Dublin on 9 October. The first Business Bytes of the season kicks off on 11 October focusing on the why and how of employee wellbeing - register to attend now. Tune into the next SFA webinar on 19 October on workplace investigations. Avail of a special discount for the 3XE Search Conference on 19 October as a SFA member. The highlight of the small business calendar, the SFA Annual Lunch 2017 is taking place in the Mansion House on 10 November. There are a few spaces remaining for our Project Management course on 18 October, book now. 

As always, we’d love to hear from you about any queries you may have, issues you wish to have raised with Government or other stakeholders and your ideas on how we can improve the business environment for us all. Please contact me on tel: 01 605 1602 or e-mail: sven@sfa.ie or tweet: @SFA_Irl or visit: www.sfa.ie.

Kind regards, 

Sven Spollen-Behrens

SFA Director