In Tesco Stores Ltd v USDAW the UK Supreme Court has reinstated an injunction stopping Tesco from dismissing and re-engaging employees on new terms to remove their contractual pay protection. The circumstances in which the...more
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July was a bumper month for employment lawyers and HR practitioners, with the excitement of the King’s Speech, draft guidance from the EHRC on the duty to prevent sexual...more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
As part of its “Smarter regulation to grow the economy” initiative, the UK government is consulting on further changes to TUPE. These include making it clear that TUPE applies to employees, not the wider category of workers,...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
An employee is protected against being dismissed or subjected to a detriment because they took or sought to take parental leave. The issue for the UK EAT in Hilton Foods Solutions Ltd v Wright was whether an employee had...more
Changing employment terms by dismissing and re-engaging employees has become increasingly controversial. The government does not want to make so-called “fire and re-hire” illegal, but it also wants employers to view the...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
Employers have to make reasonable adjustments if they apply a provision, criterion or practice that puts someone with a disability at a particular disadvantage. The duty only applies if the employer knows or could reasonably...more
The UK government has announced changes to employment law from 1 January 2024. It is branding some of the reforms, notably in relation to holiday and record keeping requirements, as a post-Brexit opportunity to remove...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
Last week the UK government announced that it was planning to make changes to the Working Time Regulations and one aspect of TUPE. It has now published a consultation paper providing further detail about the proposed reforms....more
The government has announced that it will not repeal most retained EU law at the end of the year as originally planned. However, it is planning to use Brexit-related freedoms to amend some aspects of the Working Time...more
The Equality Act permits some forms of positive action to address disadvantage, different needs or low participation rates amongst groups sharing a protected characteristic. The UK government has published new guidance to...more
In March 2021, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced that it would review the UK’s whistleblowing framework but did not give a timescale for the exercise. BEIS’ successor, the Department...more
Last year the UK government promised to introduce a statutory Code of Practice setting out the standards employers should observe if they are considering dismissing and re-engaging staff as a way of changing employee terms...more
During January the UK government introduced legislation to impose minimum service level requirements in some sectors during industrial action. It is also consulting on how to calculate holiday entitlement for part year and...more
In Hilaire v Luton Borough Council, the UK EAT found that it was not a reasonable adjustment simply to slot a disabled employee into a new organisational structure as part of a redundancy exercise. Although this would have...more
In 2021 the UK ICO said that it would revise its Employment Practices Data Protection Code to reflect the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. It has now published its first topic-specific guidance on employee monitoring in...more
In separate developments, the UK government announced two potentially significant changes for employers. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill could mean that at least some EU-derived employment law will expire on...more
There were a surprising number of employment-related developments in the UK over the traditional summer holiday period. We highlight new employment status guidance, government support for neonatal care leave and fair...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
The Court of Appeal in England and Wales has confirmed that in a wrongful dismissal claim, damages can reflect the least burdensome way of terminating an employment contract. In Mackenzie v AA Ltd, this meant that even if the...more
Difficult employment issues can arise during an international business purchase and what is straightforward in one country can prove challenging in another...more