In the usual rush before the summer holidays, July was a bumper month for employment lawyers and HR practitioners, with the excitement of the King’s Speech, draft guidance from the EHRC on the duty to prevent sexual...more
The King’s Speech confirms that the UK government will introduce an Employment Rights Bill into Parliament in the next session. This should be published within 100 days. Although the Speech and supporting papers provide more...more
Alongside the constant stream of election related news, there were two EAT decisions in June, dealing with “pool of one” redundancies and ill-health dismissals, which will be of interest. In future, there will be further...more
The “Delivering a New Deal for Working People” policy agenda (the New Deal) has far-reaching implications for employers if the Labour Party forms the next UK government. The Labour manifesto confirms that it would implement...more
In March the government confirmed that changes to paternity leave, additional redundancy protection for pregnant employees and new parents and the right to carer’s leave will come into force in April as planned. We’re...more
In the run-up to Christmas, the government confirmed how carer’s leave and new protection against redundancy for pregnant employees and new parents will work. It announced changes to paternity leave in January and said that...more
Parliament returned from its summer recess in September, allowing proposals on preventing sexual harassment to progress and the right to request a more predictable contract to become law. Angela Rayner’s speech to the TUC...more
The UK’s Supreme Court has confirmed that “part year” workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ holiday. Their holiday entitlement should not be pro-rated to reflect their actual hours of work, even though this means that they get...more
Difficult employment issues can arise during an international business purchase and what is straightforward in one country can prove challenging in another...more
If not now then when? Tribunal should have identified when jurisdiction established -
An employment tribunal only has jurisdiction to hear claims under the Employment Rights Act 1996 and Equality Act 2010 if the claimant...more
Narrow escape - limited waiver of privilege decision upheld In Watson v Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd the EAT reaffirmed the correct approach to waiver of privilege. A tribunal was entitled to find that a respondent had...more
Ethnicity pay gap reporting is currently voluntary in the UK. The Government ran a consultation for employers about ethnicity pay gap reporting that ended in January 2019, and on 9 February 2021, the Women and Equalities...more
First tribunal guidance on "serious and imminent" danger in context of COVID-19 -
In Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd the Employment Tribunal considered whether an employee had been unfairly dismissed for refusing to attend...more
4/26/2021
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
UK ,
Unfair Dismissal ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Workplace Safety
Cashiered – supermarket staff succeed in Supreme Court -
To bring an equal pay claim, an employee has to point to a comparator of the opposite sex doing like work, work rated as equivalent or work of equal value. If the...more
4/12/2021
/ Adoption ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Holiday Pay ,
International Labor Laws ,
Parental Leave ,
Sex Discrimination ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Wage and Hour
Split the difference - CJEU decision on fragmentation applies to service provision changes -
When a contract is retendered, services that were originally provided by a single contractor may be divided between two or more...more
Employment newsletter In this weeks issue: Beating around the bush – disclosure did not have to identify legal obligation Gone fishing – disclosure in equal pay claims All change – tribunal limits and pay gap reporting ...more
Although the government’s Job Retention Scheme (JRS) was originally expected to close on 31 October 2020, the government has extended it on several occasions. Following the Budget on 3 March 2021 it is now clear that the...more
Timed out – reasonable steps defence fails because training stable -
An employer can defend a discrimination claim under the Equality Act if it has taken all reasonable steps to prevent employees from committing acts of...more
2/22/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Impact Analysis ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equality Act ,
Harassment ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Race Discrimination ,
UK ,
UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ,
Wage and Hour
Tell it like it is – email referring to potentially discriminatory conduct not a protected act -
In Chalmers v Airpoint Ltd the EAT in Scotland found that an employee had not done a protected act for the purposes of a...more
See no evil – new employer breached equitable duty of confidence - In Travel Counsellors Ltd v Trailfinders Ltd, the Court of Appeal upheld a decision that Travel Counsellors was in breach of an equitable duty of confidence...more
Read all about it – agency worker had right to be informed about vacancies, not to apply for them -
It is perhaps surprising that nearly ten years after the Agency Workers Regulations (the Regulations) came into force, the...more
This note addresses some of employers' key questions about their obligations to employees when dealing with the continuing COVID-19 outbreak. It deals with the position in England. The governments in Scotland, Wales and...more
Although the government’s Job Retention Scheme (JRS) was originally expected to close on 31 October 2020, the government subsequently decided to extend it, initially to the end of March and then to the end of April 2021 (the...more
One size doesn’t fit all – non-compete unreasonable and void -
In Quilter Private Client Advisers v Falconer the High Court found that a nine month non-compete covenant was in restraint of trade and void. The case is a...more
There has been a lengthy debate in the courts about the extent to which an employer can rely on cost considerations when seeking to justify a provision, criteria or practice that is potentially indirectly discriminatory. In...more