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The UK Government is considering reinstating modest Employment Tribunal fees, aiming to cut taxpayer costs and promote early dispute resolution. On 29 January 2024, the Government published its proposal to reintroduce ‘modest’ fees in the...
An Employment Tribunal awarded a transgender woman £25,000 in a sex discrimination case after, among other things, her employer took two years to change her name on its systems. To ‘deadname’ someone is to continue to call a transgender...
Proposed amendments to the Equality Act 2010 have been progressing through Parliament. Under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill, the following changes are anticipated: A slightly varied defence for employers is expected to be...
World Menopause Day is held every year on 18 October. The day aims to raise awareness of menopause and the support options available for improving health and well-being. The theme for World Menopause Day 2023 is cardiovascular disease. Hormonal changes...
An incorrect choice of words has cost one employer £37,000 in compensation and a tonne of unwelcome media attention for all the wrong reasons. Mrs Anderson was an office manager employed by Thistle Marine for 27 years. She was hardworking and well...
The Home Secretary announced on 7 August 2023 that there will be a significant increase in civil penalties imposed on employers who allow illegal migrants to work for them. This follows the recommendations of the government’s immigration task force,...
The decisions in recent cases have highlighted that behaviours considered by some to be inappropriate might not pass the threshold for a successful legal claim in the employment tribunal. One such case is that of Hobbs v HR Lettings Limited,...
The government has now published its policy paper, ‘ Smarter regulation to grow the economy ’, which gives a first glimpse of how it plans to reform employment law in a post-Brexit climate. The proposed changes apply to current EU-based...
On 30 March 2023, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) released new guidance on reasonable adjustments in the workplace. The guidance is aimed at employers, managers, and HR professionals and provides detailed information on what...
All employers must undertake right to work checks as it is unlawful to employ a worker who does not have permission to work in the UK (Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (IANA) section 15(1)). An employer who inadvertently employs a...
When a claimant goes to an employment tribunal they are usually looking for compensation from their employer and often include a request to that effect in their claim form. In preparation the claimant will ordinarily be required to prepare a document for...
The Women and Equalities Committee (the Committee) published its first report entitled “ Menopause and the workplace ” on 28 July 2022. Within the report, various recommendations were set out with the view to support women going through...
It has been very difficult over the last few days to avoid the headlines about the tweet by Gary Lineker, the BBC’s response and the fallout from it. As an employment law solicitor, I have been intrigued by it. I do not know the specific...
In 2021, the Government asked ACAS to investigate the use of so-called “fire and rehire” practices. If you are not familiar, “fire and rehire” or dismissal and re-engagement is the practice of forcing acceptance of terms and...
I have long been of the view that many organisations do not proactively manage employee absence (whether the absence is long or short). I am also of the view that a failure to proactively manage absence has the potential to equate to acceptance or condoning...
Over the weekend, a public holiday was announced for the King’s Coronation. The Coronation itself is taking place on 6 May 2023 and the bank holiday will fall on 8 May 2023 . This is an additional public holiday to the one that traditionally...
At the new Chancellor’s mini-budget in September, a number of regulatory reform announcements were made, one of them being a change to the off-payroll working rules, also known as IR35. What is changing in the law From 6 April 2023, contractors who...
If, like me, you are a fan of TikTok, you may have seen the most recent trend in the workplace that has been doing the rounds recently: “quiet quitting”. Videos have been posted by workers about doing the bare minimum to complete tasks at...
Lots of organisations are accused of jumping on the bandwagon, ‘woke’ practices and ‘virtue signalling’ during awareness days, weeks and months and this undermines the hard work many individuals and organisations invest in to create...
The Minister for Work and Pensions (Lords) and Minister for Women has confirmed that the government is not currently planning to introduce menopause as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 or to implement dual discrimination. The...
This is the offer that Stephenson Harwood, an international law firm, made to its employees recently. The firm announced that employees who choose to work from home on a permanent, full-time basis, would be subject to a 20% pay cut and would be required to...
On Thursday 17 March 2022, P&O Ferries sacked 800 members of their crew on grounds of redundancy by way of a video message, in what they said was a “very difficult, but necessary decision to secure the viability of the business.” The...
In my blog dated 27 August 2021 , I wrote that the COVID-19 adjusted right to work check measures were being extended until 5 April 2022 inclusive. The Government announced on 24 February 2022 that these measures will now end on 30 September 2022 . ...
On 22 October 2021, a private members bill, which intended to legislate against ‘fire and rehire’ practices, was blocked by MPs. Fire and rehire is a controversial tactic that can be used by employers who wish to change their employee’s...
There are some useful learning points for employers to note following a recent tribunal, please see below: The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) heard the case of Stott v Ralli Ltd EA-2019-000772-VP on 16 June 2021 and It was published on 19 October...
A subject access request (SAR) is a mechanism under the data protection legislation (UK GDPR) to request all information that an organisation holds in relation to an individual. Over recent years, we have found a sharp increase in the number of SARs...
When Tribunal proceedings are contemplated, employees will often make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to their employer. This is a well-used tactic to obtain early disclosure of documents that might be used at the Tribunal hearing. When the claim gets...
Nando’s is the latest well-known high-street group to be affected by what is being referred to as the “pingdemic” this summer. Disruption within the UK supply chain has led to a shortage of Nando’s famous Peri Peri Chicken,...
Employees who have been dismissed, discriminated against or who are in dispute with their employers may be able to make a claim in the Employment Tribunal. Tribunals were first established in the 1960’s to provide a forum for employers and employees...
On 19 February 2021, the long-awaited judgement in the case of Uber BV v Aslam was handed down by the Supreme Court. It was unanimously ruled that Uber drivers are not self-employed, as Uber themselves argued, but are workers and are therefore entitled to...
Michael Austin, a paint sprayer, has been awarded £28,560 after his dismissal from A1M Retro Classics (A1M) was ruled unfair. Mr Austin was employed by A1M for 5 years until he was summarily dismissed on 18th February 2020. On 13th February...
Roo Rawal, a postal worker, was employed by the Royal Mail for 17 years until his dismissal for Gross Misconduct in 2017. Prior to his dismissal, he had a clean disciplinary record. The reason for the dismissal The disciplinary allegations followed a...
In order to assist the rescue of failing businesses, the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations (TUPE) include specific insolvency provisions which allow transferees of insolvent businesses greater flexibility than would otherwise be the case. Where the...
Although the Coronavirus pandemic has restricted travel both within and outside of the UK, many employees have travelled abroad to visit family, either for the festive celebrations or for longer periods. Whilst this creates a range of potential...
With Boohoo purchasing some of the assets of department store Debenhams, it is believed that its stores will not reopen, except to sell off stock. So, what does this mean for Debenhams’ employees? In many cases, if business A buys the shares of...
Following Brexit, there will be changes to the way in which all migrants come to the UK to work. From 1 January 2021, free movement will end and a points-based immigration system, applying equally to EU and non-EU citizens, will be introduced. Under...
Last year, in the case of Chief Constable of Leicestershire v Hextall, the Court of Appeal decided that it was not discriminatory to pay men on shared parental leave less than a woman received whilst on maternity leave. Hextall asked for permission to...
A Tribunal has determined that ethical veganism is a ‘philosophical belief’ and is capable of protection from discrimination. Jordi Casamitjana, an ethical vegan, claims that he was treated less favourably by his employer because of his...
