The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill (the Act) recently received Royal Assent and will come into force in October 2024.
Although there is no clue in the title, the Act is concerned exclusively with...more
Our October update includes a significant Supreme Court decision on how to treat historic underpayments of holiday pay, a preliminary tribunal hearing on whether a belief in race equality that opposed critical race theory was...more
10/31/2023
/ Blacklist ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Rights Act ,
Employment Tribunals ,
Equality Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Holiday Pay ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redundancy Dismissals ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
UK GDPR ,
UK Supreme Court ,
Underpayment ,
Unfair Dismissal ,
Wage and Hour
Our September update includes cases on whether a transgender employee was discriminated against for being subject to a “gender specific” insult, the extent to which employers should enquire about employees’ disabilities in...more
9/28/2023
/ Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Stock Purchase Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
PHI ,
Sick Leave ,
Transgender ,
TUPE ,
UK
Our August update includes cases on the (discriminatory) harassment of a gender critical employee, a case in which a dismissing officer was not present at a dismissal meeting, and a case where a tribunal reached the unusual...more
8/29/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Confidential Information ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Dismissals ,
Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Gender Identity ,
Harassment ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Labor Code ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Shareholders ,
Taxi Cabs ,
Transgender ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unfair Dismissal
Our July update includes cases on the dismissal of a devout Christian dismissed for gross misconduct for social media criticism of pro-LGBTQ+ teaching at schools, allowances that tribunals should make to litigants in person...more
7/28/2023
/ Age Discrimination ,
Anti-Nepotism Laws ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Tribunals ,
Equality Act ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Harassment ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Human Rights ,
LGBTQ ,
Pending Legislation ,
Public Schools ,
Race Discrimination ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Social Networks ,
Termination ,
Transgender ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unconscious Bias ,
Unfair Dismissal
Our June update includes cases on whether an employer notified of an employee’s pregnancy just before termination is liable for a pregnancy dismissal, whether an employer’s future discovery of a disability makes it...more
6/27/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Furloughs ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Performance Reviews ,
Popular ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Redundancy Dismissals ,
Sick Leave ,
Termination ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unfair Dismissal ,
Work Schedules ,
Workplace Safety
Our May update includes cases on the removal of an EAT panel member for bias in a case involving religious belief and the teaching of children about same sex marriage, the effect of a CPO which prevents individuals from...more
5/26/2023
/ Bias ,
Employment Tribunals ,
EU ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
TUPE ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Work Schedules
Our April update includes cases on religious belief discrimination in the education sector, with a school chaplain preaching to pupils his views on same-sex marriage, a case considering whether the potentially disruptive...more
4/26/2023
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redundancy Dismissals ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Remote Working ,
Sex Discrimination ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Whistleblowers
Our March update includes new cases on whether a “without prejudice” letter attaching a settlement agreement and referring to a termination by mutual agreement can be an effective dismissal letter, the role of written...more
3/23/2023
/ Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Maternity Leave ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Redundancy Dismissals ,
Redundancy Payments ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Termination ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unfair Dismissal ,
Work Schedules
This article considers changes in employers’ dress codes, focusing on workplaces where formal dress codes, such as dress or trouser suits/ties/black shoes are, or rather were, the norm. We look at post-pandemic changes to...more
Our February update includes new cases on marital status discrimination, including a general refresher on direct discrimination, a case of whether private WhatsApp messages can be used in tribunal proceedings, and how to deal...more
2/22/2023
/ Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Tribunals ,
Evidence ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Marital Status ,
Marital Status Discrimination ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Settlement Agreements ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
WhatsApp
Our January update includes new cases on “without prejudice” conversations on termination of employment, the difficulties of applying 100% “Polkey” reductions in unfair dismissal awards, and issues of employers introducing...more
1/19/2023
/ Bereavement Leave ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Medical Leave ,
Paid Leave ,
Parental Leave ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Privileged Communication ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unfair Dismissal ,
Without Prejudice Privilege ,
Work Schedules
Our December update includes new case law on a very unusual take on taxing payments under settlement agreements, how difficult it can be to withdraw an appeal and stop a dismissal from vanishing, and the consequences, even if...more
12/15/2022
/ Bias ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employment Litigation ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Income Taxes ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Pay Gap ,
Racial Bias ,
Settlement Agreements ,
UK ,
Workplace Safety
At the end of November, a French appeal court ruled that an employer could not dismiss an employee (called in this case “Mr T”) for refusing to participate in after-work drinks and team building activities. The judgment made...more
Our November update includes new case law on settlement agreements, particularly the extent to which they can prevent future claims, satisfying statutory requirements for protected disclosures in whistleblowing cases and an...more
Over the past few years there has been significant growth in the use of technology for monitoring workers, especially following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global demand (based on the number of internet searches...more
11/4/2022
/ CCTV ,
CNIL ,
Consultation ,
Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
UK
Our October update includes new case law on Long Covid/disability discrimination, confirmation of limits on the scope of protected philosophical beliefs, and a tricky case on extending discrimination time limits. It also...more
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that he intends to reverse plans to scrap IR35 reforms.
In our previous article of 23 September 2022, we covered the confirmation in the Government’s Growth Plan 2022 that the 2017 and...more
The Bank of England has forecast that the UK economy will be entering into a recession in late 2022, with the economic contraction expected to last for just over a year, followed by a period of weak growth. Statistics from...more
Our September update includes new case law on the controversial area of gender-critical/trans beliefs, a far-reaching anonymity order made by the EAT, dismissals for political beliefs/activities and a news roundup on ACAS...more
9/13/2022
/ Anonymity ,
Conciliation ,
Diversity ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Political Affiliation ,
Political Candidates ,
Political Speech ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Transgender ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unfair Dismissal
In the fifth iteration of our 2022 Employment Law Horizon Scanning blog, we consider why employers might start providing or assisting employees with housing and accommodation. We also consider where this trend originates from...more
Our August update includes new case law on the calculation of holiday pay for part-time workers, a tricky case on whistleblowing, two cases on the balance between gender critical views and trans discrimination, a news roundup...more
8/17/2022
/ Data Subject Access Requests ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Holiday Pay ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Transgender ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Our July update includes new case law on Long covid being held to be a disability, challenging the privileged status of “without prejudice” correspondence, and an unfair dismissal case in which a Tribunal made an overall...more
Our June update looks at case law developments relating to health and safety dismissals for remaining away from/expressing concerns about Covid in the workplace, the consequences of not complying with the strict requirements...more
6/22/2022
/ Conciliation ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employment Tax ,
Employment Tribunals ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights ,
Independent Contractors ,
Rehiring Issues ,
Remote Working ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal
Although we may be in a transitional period, we believe hybrid working will be the dominant form of working arrangement moving forward. Why do we think this? ...more