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A Guide to Dealing with Requests for Flexible Working Arrangements
The statutory right to request flexible working arrangements is currently available to parents of children aged 17 and under (18 and under where the child is disabled) and employees who care for, or expect to care for, certain adults. An employee must have... -
A Guide to the Agency Workers Regulations
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) came into force on 1 October 2011. All agency workers are entitled, from the first day of their assignment, to information on any job vacancies and to make use of collective facilities and amenities available to... -
Age Discrimination - Life After the Abolition of the Default Retirement Age
The Default Retirement Age (DRA) has now been abolished and it is no longer permissible for an employer to dismiss an older worker on the ground of retirement unless this can be objectively justified under the Equality Act 2010 . This does not mean that... -
Age Discrimination - Mandatory Retirement
Whilst enforced retirement at age 65 has now been abolished and the Equality Act 2010 has replaced the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 , the decision of the Supreme Court in a case brought under the Regulations ( Seldon v Clarkson, Wright... -
Collective Redundancy Consultation - Decision Outside Scope of Directive, Rules ECJ
In United States of America v Nolan , the Court of Appeal sought guidance from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as to the point at which the obligation to consult arises under Directive 98/59/EC, the Collective Redundancies Directive. Difficulties... -
Collective Redundancy Consultation - Government Announces Changes
EU Directive 98/59/EC, the Collective Redundancies Directive, was enacted into UK domestic law by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA). Whilst the Directive requires a minimum consultation period of only 30 days for... -
Damages for Wrongful Dismissal
The Supreme Court has ruled ( Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust ) that a consultant surgeon who suffered a loss as a result of findings of personal and professional misconduct made against him in disciplinary proceedings that were... -
Dealing with Employee Absence
Employee absences can be both costly and disruptive. It is advisable to have systems in place to measure and analyse these costs so that you can identify problem areas. Are there patterns of absence? Does a particular department have a below average... -
Disability Discrimination - Failure to Make Reasonable Adjustments
When deciding a reasonable adjustments claim under Section 4A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (now replaced by the Equality Act 2010 ), the Employment Tribunal (ET) must identify the relevant provision, criterion or practice (PCP) and then... -
Disability Discrimination - Limits on Duty to Make Reasonable Adjustments
Under Section 4A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), employers had a duty to make reasonable adjustments to working practices in order to ensure that a disabled employee was not disadvantaged. Under the Equality Act 2010 , which has now... -
Disability Discrimination - Normal Day-to-Day Activities
For the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) , a person had a disability if they had a physical or mental impairment which had a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their normal day-to-day activities. Under the Equality Act 2010... -
Dismissal and the Effective Date of Termination
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has overturned a decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET) that a revised notice of dismissal did not prevent an employee from completing the one year’s continuous employment necessary for him to bring a claim of... -
Driving on Company Business
Research by the Health and Safety Executive shows that 20 people are killed and 250 are seriously injured each week in traffic accidents involving someone driving for business reasons. The threat of employers being prosecuted for road accidents involving... -
Drug Policy - Recognising the Signs and What to Do
Research findings from Medscreen, based on drug testing carried out over the last ten years across a variety of professions, reveal that there has been a 3,000 per cent increase in the number of workers testing positive for cocaine. More than five per cent... -
ECHR Rules in Religious Discrimination Claims
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has handed down its rulings in four UK cases in which Christian employees claimed to have suffered discrimination at work on account of their religious beliefs. Two of the cases concerned women who were prevented... -
ECHR Rules on Protection of Political Beliefs
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that United Kingdom legislation is deficient as it does not protect employees, including those with less than one year’s service, from dismissal on grounds of political opinion or affiliation ( ... -
Employees Who Fall Sick Whilst on Annual Leave
On more than one occasion, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that the purpose of the entitlement to paid annual leave is to enable a worker to rest and to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure, whereas the purpose of the entitlement to sick... -
Employer Responsible for Work-Related Suicide
Employees, or their dependants, are entitled to claim damages for injury caused by a workplace accident if: • there was a duty of care owed to the injured person; • that duty was not performed; and • it was reasonably foreseeable that harm... -
Employment Rights - Ministers of Religion
For many years, it was accepted law that ministers of religion did not normally come within the definition of ‘employee’ for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) because they were traditionally deemed to be ‘office... -
Employment Tribunal Fees
Currently, bringing a claim to the Employment Tribunal (ET) is free of charge and the cost of running the service is £84 million per annum. In 2012, as part of the Government’s review of employment and workplace law, the Ministry of Justice... -
Failing to Prevent Bribery - Are You at Risk?
The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. It created a new offence which can be committed by a commercial organisation if it fails to prevent persons associated with it from committing bribery on its behalf. A business can provide a defence by... -
Government Announces Further Flexible Working Measures
The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 gave new fathers who qualify the right to take additional paternity leave during the period which begins 20 weeks after the child’s date of birth and ends 12 months after this date if the mother chooses... -
Government announces flexible working measures
Following last year’s ‘Modern Workplaces’ consultation, the Government plans to introduce the following reforms: Flexible Working From 2014, the right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees... -
Graduate Recruitment
Most businesses would like to benefit from an influx of talent, enthusiasm and fresh ideas. The challenge is to achieve it at an acceptable cost. One option is to employ a recent graduate. In the past, most graduate recruitment was undertaken by large... -
In Brief: ACAS E-learning Guides
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) now has ten electronic learning guides available on its website. The topics are: • bullying and harassment; • managing absence in the workplace; • handling redundancy; •... -
In Brief: ACAS Guidance on Holiday and Holiday Pay
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has useful guidance for employers puzzling over staff holiday pay entitlements. The guidance leaflet gives a summary of holiday entitlements, setting out: the right to annual leave; when a... -
In Brief: Advice on Occupational Asthma
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that each year between 1,500 and 3,000 people in Great Britain develop occupational asthma. The number rises to 7,000 cases a year if asthma made worse by work is taken into account. The cost to society is... -
In Brief: Assessment of Repetitive Tasks Tool
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common occupational illness in Britain. They include problems such as low back pain, joint injuries and repetitive strain injuries of various sorts, and affect more than 500,000 people every year. They are often... -
In Brief: Data Protection
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published a consolidated version of the guidance on data protection issues in employment. This brings together the four existing guides on recruitment and selection, employee records, monitoring at work and... -
In Brief: Guidance on Cancer and Working
Employees diagnosed with progressive forms of cancer are regarded as having a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 . Employers therefore have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to help employees overcome disadvantages arising from their... -
In Brief: Guidance on Recruiting Refugees and Asylum Seekers
The UK Border Agency has useful guidance to help UK employers understand the status of asylum seekers, refugees and those with humanitarian protection . This explains what documents employers should ask prospective employees to produce to ensure that they... -
In Brief: New Minimum Wage Rates
Employers are reminded that, in accordance with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, the adult hourly rate of the National Minimum Wage increased from £6.08 to £6.19 on 1 October 2012. However, the development rate (which covers... -
In Brief: Working at Height Regulations
Falls from height are the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of serious injury. A place is ‘at height’ if there is a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 were... -
Informing and Consulting Employees
The EU Information and Consultation Directive 2002 establishes minimum requirements for consulting and informing employees on a wide variety of subjects. The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 implement the Directive in the UK. ... -
Lost ET1 Claim by Fax Presented in Time
An employee wishing to bring an unfair dismissal claim must do so within three months of their effective date of termination (EDT). Time limits for presenting claims to the Employment Tribunal (ET) are normally strictly enforced. Rule 1 of the ET Rules of... -
No Homophobic Harassment Where Claimant Engaged in Similar Conduct
A man who succeeded in his argument that homophobic workplace banter directed at a heterosexual worker could constitute harassment, under Regulation 5 of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 , has lost his claim because the... -
Protecting Business Interests
When an employee leaves to go to work for another organisation, their employer may wish to have in place safeguards to protect sensitive information relating to the business, to prevent it from falling into the hands of a competitor. One possible way of... -
Redundancy - Selection for Redundancy
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that where all members of a ‘pool’ are redundant, the employer does not have to undertake a formal redundancy selection process ( Zeff v Lewis Day Transport plc ). Mr Zeff worked for Lewis Day... -
Redundancy - Suitable Alternative Employment
In a further case on whether or not it was reasonable for an employee at risk of redundancy to refuse an offer of suitable alternative employment, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has reaffirmed that the test is a subjective one. In such cases, the... -
Redundancy Selection - A 'Pool of One'
In Wrexham Golf Club Co. Ltd. v Ingham , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that when deciding which employees are potentially at risk of redundancy, there will be cases where it is reasonable for the employer to focus on a single employee without... -
Religious Discrimination - Refusal to Allow Time Off Work to Attend Mosque
Under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 , now superseded by the Equality Act 2010 , indirect discrimination occurs when an employer applies a ‘provision, criterion or practice’ (PCP) which puts or would put those who... -
Resolving Workplace Disputes
As of 6 April 2009, the Employment Act 2008 repealed the Statutory Dispute Resolution Procedures in their entirety. In their place is a voluntary Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Code of Practice , which sets out the basic principles... -
Rest Breaks - Appropriate Alternative Arrangements
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR), workers are entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute rest break if their daily working time exceeds six hours. However, there are exceptions to this general rule to take account of unusual or particular working... -
Staff Handbooks and Contractual Rights
It is not uncommon for employees’ contracts of employment to expressly incorporate the staff handbook, although much of its contents will refer to policy matters rather than having contractual status. The decision of the Court of Appeal in Keeley v... -
Stress - An Employer's Duties
The 13th edition of the Absence Management survey report , which is produced by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in conjunction with healthcare provider Simplyhealth, found that in 2012 stress was the most common cause of... -
Supreme Court Rules in Equal Pay Case
The Supreme Court has ruled, by a majority of three judges to two, that 174 former employees of Birmingham City Council who left their jobs between 2004 and 2008 do have the right to pursue their equal pay claims in the civil courts as breach of contract... -
TUPE - An Introduction
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 apply to any size of business and protect the employment rights of employees when their employer changes as a result of the relevant transfer of a business or a part of one. They... -
TUPE - Assignment of Pub Lease Not a TUPE Transfer
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled ( Lom Management Ltd. v Sweeney ) that although the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) may apply when the lease of a commercial property has been assigned, this will... -
TUPE - Post Transfer Consultation
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has considered ( AMICUS and TGWU v Glasgow City Council ) whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) require a transferee employer to consult with the union representatives... -
TUPE - Post-Transfer Obligations and Collective Agreements
The Court of Appeal has overturned the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Alemo-Herron and others v Parkwood Leisure Ltd. Parkwood Leisure Ltd. had taken over a company that acquired employees of the London Borough of Lewisham’s... -
TUPE - What Constitutes an 'Organised Grouping of Employees'?
A service provision change under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) takes place when, immediately before the transfer, there is an ‘organised grouping of employees’ situated in Great Britain which... -
The Corporate Manslaughter Act
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 established a new statutory offence of corporate manslaughter (corporate culpable homicide in Scotland). An organisation is guilty of the offence if the way in which it manages or organises its... -
The Equality Act 2010 - A Guide for Employers
The Equality Act 2010 has replaced nine major pieces of discrimination legislation and other ancillary measures that have been introduced over the last forty years. The core provisions of the Act came into force on 1 October 2010. As well as harmonising... -
Triangular Agency Working Arrangements - The Correct Approach
A further case ( East Living Ltd. v Sridhar and TSG Services Ltd. ) has confirmed the approach an Employment Tribunal (ET) should take when deciding whether or not an agency worker is in reality the employee of the end user company. Mr Sridhar was... -
Unfair Dismissal - Polkey Reductions - Some Speculation Inevitable
In Eversheds Legal Services Ltd. v de Belin , whilst upholding Mr de Belin’s claims of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) found that the Employment Tribunal (ET) had failed to address Eversheds’... -
Unfair Dismissal - Reasonable Responses
In Sarkar v West London Mental Health NHS Trust , the Court of Appeal has ruled that the Employment Tribunal (ET) was entitled to find that the decision to dismiss Dr Sameer Sarkar from his post as a Consultant Psychiatrist at Broadmoor Hospital was... -
Unfair Dismissal Claims - A Minute Late is Too Late
An employee must bring an unfair dismissal claim within three months of his or her effective date of termination and the time limits for presenting claims to the Tribunals Service are normally strictly enforced. If the deadline is missed, the Employment... -
Unsuccessful Job Applicants - Access to Recruitment Information
In Meister v Speech Design Carrier Systems GmbH , the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was asked by the German Labour Court to give a preliminary ruling on whether an unsuccessful job applicant who can show that he or she meets the requirements for a post... -
Varying Employees' Contracts of Employment
With economic prospects still looking gloomy, many employers are seeking ways to reduce staff costs and an alternative to making redundancies is to reorganise employees’ patterns of working. It is important to remember, however, that where this would... -
What changes to employment law are expected in 2013?
2013 promises to be an action-packed year for employment law reform. Here, we highlight 10 of the upcoming changes: March 2013 – As part of the Government’s plan to cut red tape, statutory discrimination questionnaires will be abolished... -
What rights do employees have to manifest their religious beliefs in the workplace?
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently published its judgement in Eweida and others v United Kingdom which considered four combined cases about religious rights in the workplace. Although all the cases were brought by Christians, the... -
Whistleblowers - The Scope of the Protection
In BP plc v 1. Elstone 2. Petrotechnics Ltd. , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) had to determine whether a worker could bring a claim under Section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) on the ground that he had suffered a detriment from his... -
Whistleblowing - Disclosure Must Be Made In Good Faith
The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) – often referred to as the ‘Whistleblowing’ Act – came into force in July 1999. PIDA inserted new sections into the Employment Rights Act 1996 which give workers legal protection when... -
Written Statement of Employment Particulars
A contract of employment may be verbal but all employees, whether part-time or full-time, are entitled by law to be given a written statement setting out the main particulars of their employment, provided their employment lasts for one month or more. All the...
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