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
The roll-out of vaccinations against Covid-19 is gathering pace in the UK and on the current timetable all adults will have been offered a first vaccine by the end of July....more
3/30/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Privacy ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
UK ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
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
Although the government’s Job Retention Scheme (JRS) was initially expected to close on 31 October 2020, on 5 November 2020 the government announced that it would remain in place in some form until the end of March 2021 (the...more
Tell me more – ICO publishes detailed subject access guidance -
The ICO has published detailed guidance for handling subject access requests. This is relevant to employers responding to subject access requests from...more
11/5/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
Furloughs ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
International Labor Laws ,
Job Retention Schemes ,
Personal Data ,
Subject Access Request (SAR) ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Withdrawal Agreement
The UK government announced its Job Support Scheme (JSS Open) on 24 September and revised terms on 22 October. An expanded version of the Job Support Scheme (JSS Closed) is available for businesses that are required to close...more
Only joking – employer not vicariously liable for practical joke -
In Chell v Tarmac Cement and Lime Ltd employees of Roltech Engineering were contracted to work alongside Tarmac employees at a site, resulting in some...more
On 24 September 2020 the UK government announced its Job Support Scheme (JSS), which will open on 1 November when the current Job Retention Scheme (JRS) comes to an end. It will run for six months until the end of April 2021....more
Replacement for furlough scheme announced -
On 24 September the government announced the Job Support Scheme, which will open on 1 November. The Job Support Scheme will support wages for employees who are performing at...more
If it ain't broke – material factor still explained pay disparity after job evaluation -
Employers have a defence to an equal pay claim if they can show that a difference in pay between an employee and their comparator is...more
9/16/2020
/ Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Redundancy Dismissals ,
UK ,
Wage and Hour
Way ahead – Roadmap for employment tribunals published:
The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals have published a roadmap outlining a plan for increasing the number of employment tribunal hearings that can take place...more
On 20 March 2020 the UK government announced its coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS), which allowed businesses to place employees on furlough (temporary leave of absence) and reclaim 80% of their usual monthly wage costs...more
On 20 March 2020 the UK government announced its Job Retention Scheme (JRS). The JRS allows businesses to place employees on furlough (temporary leave of absence) and reclaim 80% of their usual monthly wage costs from HMRC,...more