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
The UK government has responded to last year’s consultation on making flexible working the default. The response confirms that the right to request flexible working will be available to all employees, regardless of their...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
As part of its project to update the Employment Practices Data Protection Code, the UK ICO has published its second topic-specific draft guidance for consultation. The guidance covers processing information about workers’...more
This article is the second in a series on areas impacted by AI. It focuses on the upcoming implementation of a new Consumer Duty, a higher standard of behaviour for financial services firms directly or indirectly interacting...more
The UK government recently announced its support for two more Private Members’ Bills. These will give employees additional protection against redundancy if they are pregnant or returning from family-related leave and a new...more
In the discussion paper, the UK financial supervisory authorities have not provided a new legal framework or their intended future approaches for regulating the use of AI and machine learning in financial services. However,...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 decided that an employer was entitled to dismiss and offer to re-engage employees on new terms in order to remove pay protection it had originally referred to as “permanent”. The...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
Dismissing an employee for long term sickness absence could be discrimination arising from a disability if an employer cannot show that the dismissal is objectively justified. The recent UK EAT decision in Department for Work...more
In INEOS Infrastructure Grangemouth Ltd v Jones, the EAT in Scotland found that it was an unlawful inducement relating to collective bargaining for an employer to make a unilateral pay award to employees after pay...more
The long-awaited Employment Bill is no closer to being put before Parliament, after there was no mention of it in the Queen’s Speech. However, in a separate announcement, the UK government has said that it will extend 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
The UK government has published new guidance on reducing the spread of respiratory infections, including COVID-19, in the workplace. It replaces the earlier working safely during coronavirus guidance, applies to England and...more
Overturning a decision of the EAT, in Mercer v Alternative Future Group Ltd the Court of Appeal for England and Wales found that private sector workers are not protected against being subjected to a detriment by their...more
In Kocur v Angard Staffing Solutions Ltd, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales confirmed that agency workers have a right to be informed about vacancies in a hirer, not a right to apply for them on the same terms as...more
In Smith v Pimlico Plumbers Ltd the Court of Appeal for England and Wales allowed a worker to carry forward statutory holiday he had accrued during the course of his employment, which he had taken but not been paid for, until...more
The High Court of Justice for England and Wales has prevented an employer from dismissing employees and offering to re-engage them on new terms. As the employer was seeking to remove a right to enhanced pay that it had...more
An English employment tribunal decided that it was fair for an employer to dismiss a care home worker when she refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, employers should not assume that the decision means that it...more
In Chell v Tarmac Cement and Lime Ltd, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales confirmed that an employer was not vicariously liable when a workplace prank carried out by one of its employees injured another person working...more