Are your employees entitled to take time off for the queen’s platinum jubilee bank holiday
Many employers are asking whether their employees are entitled to take time off for the additional bank holiday in June…
Smaller firms facing a ‘low workforce morale epidemic’
Recent research reveals what the impact of Covid-19 has been on mental health issues in some of the UK’s small…
Flexible working and your rights as an employer
The working landscape has changed dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic. More employees are working from home than ever…
Employees have the pick of the crop
The number of people in paid employment is up. In August 2021, the number of payroll employees in the UK…
Government publishes response to consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace
On 11 July 2019, the Government Equalities Office launched a consultation on how best to tackle sexu-al harassment in the…
Working from home guidance not to be lifted until 19 July
The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson previously indicated that the government’s current work from home guidance will end on 21 June…
Disability discrimination case law – All Answers Ltd v W and Another
In the recent case of All Answers Ltd v W and Another, the Court of Appeal has held that when…
Protection from detriment in health and safety
The draft Employment Rights Act 1996 (Protection from Detriment in Health and Safety Cases) (Amendment) Order 2021 came into force…
Right road back to the office
The Government’s roadmap out of the current lockdown has undoubtedly been welcome news for employers, who can now start planning…
Asda equal pay ruling
In the latest installment of the equal pay claims saga, the Supreme Court rejected Asda’s appeal that shop floor workers…
Uber accepts drivers as “workers”
In Uber BV and Others v Aslam and Others, the Supreme Court looked in detail at the relationship between the…
Furlough scheme extended until September 2021
The Chancellor of the Exchequer – Rishi Sunak – has announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough scheme), which…
Are you ready for wage rises?
This is the time of year when employment lawyers and HR professionals prepare for the changes to rates and limits…
Extension to off payroll working rules
Before words like ‘coronavirus’, ‘pandemic’ and ‘social-distancing’ became part of our daily vocabulary, a topic high on the agenda was…
Treasury Direction extends the furlough scheme until April
The government has issued a new Treasury Direction formally extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (better known as the furlough…
How long is ‘longterm’ when it comes to disability?
The definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010 is that a person has a physical or mental impairment which…
Reminder – Time limits for furlough claims from 1 November
There are new stricter time limits for making claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough). These apply during the…
Notice pay for furloughed employees
As we will all now be aware, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (commonly known as the ‘furlough scheme’) has been…
Extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Guidance released
On 5 November, the Chancellor announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (commonly known as the ‘furlough scheme’) which was…
Covid-19: Extension of furlough
The Prime Minister has announced that England will be entering into a national lockdown from Thursday 5 November until at…
Covid-19: Job Support Scheme Guidance now available
In September the Chancellor unveiled plans for the Job Support Scheme (JSS) which comes into force from 1 November, taking…
Covid-19: Chancellor announces increased support for jobs
The Chancellor has announced plans to increase support through the Job Support Scheme which is due to come into effect…
Covid-19: Three tier lockdown and extension to the Job Support Scheme
The Prime Minister has formally unveiled plans for a new three tier system for implementing local lockdowns restrictions across England.…
Foster carers held to be Council employees
In the case of Glasgow City Council v Johnstone UKEATS/0011/18 the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT upheld a decision by the…
Covid-19: New Coronavirus Regulations now in force
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020 came into force in England at midnight. The Regulations confirm and…
Covid-19: Chancellor announces Job Support Scheme
The government has been under increasing pressure to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which is going to stop providing…
Covid-19: Government U-turn on work from home guidance
In response to the rising number of cases of Covid-19, the Prime Minister outlined new measures in an address to…
Covid-19: New legislation for redundancy and notice pay of furloughed employees
The government has announced new legislation to ensure that furloughed employees who are made redundant will receive a statutory redundancy…
Covid-19: Travel abroad and compulsory quarantine – how do employers manage this?
Schools have broken up for summer holidays and more employees are now venturing out and going abroad. Already we are…
Chancellor unveils coronavirus recovery plan to save jobs
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £30bn plan to boost the economy and prevent mass unemployment as the financial effects…
Bracing your company for redundancies
The president of the employment tribunals for England and Wales has said that he expects a big increase of unfair…
Flexible furlough scheme
Over the weekend, the government released guidance about upcoming changes to the coronavirus job retention scheme (also known as the…
Changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
On Friday 29 May 2020, the Chancellor announced reforms to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) (also known as furlough…
New Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules for government tracing initiative
The government has launched its contact tracing service in England (similar initiatives available in the rest of the UK). The…
Seasonal worker scheme multiplies by four
Following concerns over a lack of migrant labour as a consequence of Brexit, the government is significantly expanding its Seasonal…
Extension to the furlough scheme
The Chancellor has today announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“Scheme”) will be extended for four months, until the…
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme online portal is now live
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme online portal is now live and can be accessed through the Government Gateway. There is…
Guidance for Furlough Scheme for Employees
Over the weekend, HMRC published some much needed additional guidance about the Furlough Scheme (otherwise known as the Coronavirus Job…
Government sexual harassment survey
In one of the largest ever surveys of its kind to be carried out, the Government EqualitiesOffice is surveying thousands…
£700,000 awarded to headteacher sacked for having sex with 17-year-olds
A primary school headteacher who was sacked for having sex with two 17-year-old boys has wonnearly £700,000 in compensation.…
Casual seasonal workers and holiday pay
A casual worker is entitled to paid holiday, and their entitlement pay is calculated pro rata by reference to the…
Vegetarianism not a philosophical belief
Conisbee v Crossley Farms Ltd and others
In an intriguing case, the Tribunal considered whether vegetarianism is a belief, and…
Protecting new parents from discrimination
Pregnancy or maternity discrimination is illegal under the Equality Act, yet up to 54,000 women ayear still feel forced out…
Parental leave – equal pay?
A recent ruling by the Court of Appeal (COA) has clarified the differing purposes of sharedparental leave (ShPL) and maternity…
Personal injury quantifiable in rest-break claims
The case of Grange v Abellio London Ltd will be of particular interest to employers as it confirms that non-compliance…
When is a worker an employee?
In a recent landmark case that was hailed the ‘first public sector gig economy victory’, a group of art educators…
No more staff parties?
Following a recent compensation claim for £300,000 against Cancer Research UK by one of its employees during a staff party,…
Iceland in frosty wage – Dispute with HMRC
Iceland Foods are in a dispute with HMRC over the company’s Christmas savings scheme.…
Restrictive covenants under scrutiny in landmark case
In the case of Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd, the Supreme Court is considering whether professional services firm Egon Zehnder…
Job hunters focus on gender pay gap
Six out of ten women would take into consideration an organisation’s gender pay gap when looking for a job, according…
Christmas party bust-up: boss to blame. The case of Bellman v Northampton Recruitment Ltd
An employer can be held liable for the unlawful actions of one of its employees if it takes place during…
Unfair dismissal claims: When do statutory notice periods need to be added to qualifying service?
‘Lancaster and Duke Ltd v Wileman’…
Dismissal for misconduct without prior warning
The case of Mbubaegbu v Homerton University Hospital considered when dismissal for misconduct without prior warning can be reasonable. It…
Ensure you understand how to tax notice pay when it is paid in lieu following recent changes to the law in this area
This April saw the most significant change to the taxation of termination payments in many years. The intention of the…
Facebook’s data processing scandal could set the tone for GDPR claims
Ahead of the implementation of the GDPR on 25 May, Facebook and its relationship with Cambridge Analytica could set a…
Tesco’s £4bn equal pay bill
Tesco is facing an £4 billion equal pay claim from thousands of female shop workers. If this claim is successful,…
Sexual harassment in the workplace
From Westminster to Hollywood and more recently the charity sector, reports of sexual harassment have become a regular feature in…
Are you ready for gender pay reporting?
While gender pay reporting currently only applies to organisations employing over 250 people, it’s advisable that any organisation employing over…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
Christmas can be a notoriously tricky time for employers, with numerous social events and of course the inevitable office Christmas…
Check your IT user policies- are you monitoring staff usage appropriately?
A recent ruling by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Barbulescu…
Important guidance from ACAS on supporting parents with ill and/or premature babies
ACAS has issued new guidance related to employees who have a baby or babies that are ill or premature.…
Changes to employment law proposed by review of modern working practices (the ‘gig economy’)
The gig economy is often defined as “a labour market characterised by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work,…
Don’t get caught out – check your family friendly policies are not discriminatory
Shared parental leave (SPL), which came into force in April 2015, allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of…
Discrimination should not be inferred simply because the employer’s conduct has been unreasonable
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently handed down their judgment in Kent Police v Bowler. They confirmed that an…
Are your contracts clear on when notice to terminate employment is deemed to be given?
If an employment contract is silent on when notice is deemed to be given, notice of termination doesn’t take effect…
Pimlico Plumbers & Anor v Smith: when is a plumber a worker?
Determining ‘worker’ status has been a major focus in the world of employment law recently, with several high-profile cases considering…
Gender Pay Reporting – A summary of the reporting guidelines and pay calculations
Reporting Guidelines…
The National Minimum Wage – make sure your business doesn’t end up on the government’s name and shame list!
On 15 February 2017, the government ‘named and shamed’ more than 350 employers who had underpaid their workers the national…
Dewhurst v CitySprint UK Ltd- latest ‘gig economy’ case on worker status
Last year an employment tribunal heard the case of Aslam, Farrar and Others v Uber where it was held the…
Salary sacrifice changes
In the Autumn Statement 2016, the government announced major changes to salary sacrifice schemes that are due to take effect…
The Trade Union Act 2016: an update
Last year we reported on the Trade Union Act 2016 (the “Act”) which received royal assent on 4 May 2016.…
Employee unfairly dismissed via ‘WhatsApp’ but not awarded compensation
In the case of Rehman v Jamia Hanfia Ghosia Mosque an employment tribunal has held that a former employee was…
