The UK government opens a far reaching review into parental leave and pay, including maternity, paternity and shared parental leave. It wants to improve support for working families, while growing the economy and removing...more
An EAT decision this month emphasised that employers should be proactive when looking for suitable alternative employment for employees in a redundancy situation. The High Court considered whether a business was vicariously...more
As the Employment Rights Bill made its way to the House of Lords with significant government amendments, Parliament approved the neonatal care leave regulations. The government issued a consultation paper on ethnicity and...more
November provided a bit of respite for employers on the legislative front after the Employment Rights Bill’s introduction and the implementation of the duty to prevent sexual harassment in October. Employers will welcome EAT...more
The Employment Rights Bill felt like the only game in town in October. Since its publication, the government has launched four consultations on different aspects of the Bill. The duty to prevent sexual harassment came into...more
Although we’re still waiting for the Employment Rights Bill (or were at the time of writing), there were some legislative developments over the summer. The government confirmed that the Tipping Act will come into force in...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July was a bumper month for employment lawyers and HR practitioners, with the excitement of the King’s Speech, draft guidance from the EHRC on the duty to prevent sexual...more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
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
April was a smorgasbord of developments, with a UK Supreme Court case on detriments and industrial action and two EAT decisions on international jurisdiction. In Parliament, another family-friendly bill is proceeding with...more
April was a smorgasbord of developments, with a UK Supreme Court case on detriments and industrial action and two EAT decisions on international jurisdiction. In Parliament, another family-friendly bill is proceeding with...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
After a fairly quiet summer period, there were developments on several fronts in October. The new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment became law, although is not yet in force. The Supreme Court...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
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
Managing an employee who has persistent short or medium term ill-health absence is difficult for an employer. Dismissing an employee whose attendance is unlikely to improve may be fair, but this will often depend on medical...more
An employee will succeed with an indirect sex discrimination claim if she can show that her employer applied a provision, criterion or practice (PCP) that put women (including the employee) at a disadvantage when compared...more
A tale in two parts - COVID-19 and health and safety dismissals There have been more employment tribunal decisions examining when a COVID-19 related dismissal will be automatically unfair for health and safety reasons. One...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