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‘No jab, no job’ – why we don’t advise employers to have a mandatory vaccination policy
Naomi Greenwood
15.01.2021
We hear in the news this week that Charlie Mullins, famously litigious founder and CEO of Pimlico Plumbers, has announced that he has instructed the company’s lawyers to draft new employment contracts making it mandatory for staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19. If that is the case, it is not an enviable position for those […]
Blog
Clarification on who can be furloughed
Katherine Maxwell
08.01.2021
The government has updated its guidance on which employees may be put on furlough through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. It has clarified that employees will be eligible for the grant and can be furloughed if they are unable to work (including from home or working reduced hours) because they: are clinically extremely vulnerable, or […]
Blog
Wages to rise up in spring
Emma Edis
21.12.2020
The Government has published the new National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, which will take effect from 6 April 2021. The changes will include lowering the age of eligibility for the National Living Wage,from 25 years to 23 years. The new rates will be as follows: Age 23 or over (NLW rate): £8.91 (currently […]
Blog
A holiday fit for a queen
Stephanie Clark
21.12.2020
In November 2020, the Government announced an extra bank holiday for June 2022 in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. As such, the late May Bank Holiday will be moved to Thursday 2 June 2022 and an additional bank holiday will be in place for Friday 3 June. This means we’ll all be able to […]
Blog
Furlough scheme extended to the end of April 2021
Katherine Maxwell
18.12.2020
The Chancellor has announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as the furlough scheme) will be extended once again and will now be in place until 30 April 2021. A review of the scheme was supposed to take place in January but a decision was made to bring forward the review in order […]
Blog
How long is ‘longterm’ when it comes to disability?
Katherine Maxwell
16.12.2020
The definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010 is that a person has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. One tricky aspect of determining if an employee has a disability can be deciding whether the adverse effect is […]
Blog
Are anxious whistleblowers blowing into the wind?
Naomi Greenwood
16.12.2020
Recent research by the whistleblowing charity Protect found that UK employers disregarded nearly half of all their employees’ coronavirus-related concerns. Not only that, but a fifth of whistleblowing employees lost their jobs as a result of raising issues related to the pandemic. According to the Protect report, 41% of all whistleblowers raising such concerns were […]
Blog
Health and Safety protections extended to Gig economy workers
David Ludlow
16.12.2020
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain v The Secretary of State for Work & Pensions and others. A recent decision by the High Court to extend health-and-safety protections those engaged in the gig economy will have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of workers. The Independent Workers Unions of Great Britain brought the […]
Blog
Christmas and COVID: Making child arrangements
Annabel Bond
09.12.2020
On 24 November 2020, the Government announced the positive news that coronavirus restrictions would be relaxed over the Christmas period to allow people to spend Christmas with their friends and family. Everyone, irrespective of the Tier you are currently in, will be allowed form a “Christmas bubble” between 23 and 27 December. There are certain […]
Blog
Risk of domestic abuse during Christmas and COVID
Annabel Bond
07.12.2020
Over the course 2020, it has been widely reported that domestic abuse cases have increased since the country went into lockdown in March. The charity Refuge recently reported that calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline have increased “week on week” over the course of the year, and demand for its services is still increasing. […]
Blog
Virtual witnessing of wills
Samuel Kirwan
03.12.2020
The Wills Act 1837 (Electronic Communications) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020 has come into effect this month making it legal for wills in England and Wales to be witnessed by means of ‘video conference or other visual transmission’. The new regulations have been backdated to 31 January 2020, with the effect that wills which have been […]
Blog
Courts take a strict approach to force majeure clauses
John Warchus
30.11.2020
2 Entertain Video Ltd v Sony DADC Europe Ltd [2020] BackgroundIn Covid-19 times, a recent decision from the Technology and Construction Court relating to the 2011 London riots is a useful reminder of the restrictive way in which force majeure and limitation clauses are interpreted by the courts and needs to be noted by all suppliers of goods […]
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