01/08/2008
Latest news on the Equality Bill
The government has launched a proposal for a new Equality Bill. This is the outcome of the major review of discrimination law which took place last year and to which EEF contributed. We look at the key proposals in the Bill and outline our views.
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23/07/2008
How the new Employment Act will change the dispute resolution landscape
The statutory disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures are being repealed next April. But how much do you know about the system that is replacing them? We look at the Employment Bill currently in Parliament, and the new Acas Code of Practice which
forms the centrepiece of the new workplace dispute resolution framework coming into force in April 2009.
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17/03/2008
The rules on maternity benefits are changing
Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 have been published in March which pave the way for new rules on benefits during maternity leave. We look at the implications for employers.
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07/03/2008
European Commission consults on European Works Councils
The Commission has invited the European social partners (ETUC and Business Europe) to consider how to improve the ways in which European Works Councils (EWCs) operate with a view to revising the European Directive governing this area.
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08/01/2008
Replacing dispute resolution legislation - what will it mean for you?
The Employment Bill has begun its passage through Parliament. Its provisions are expected to become law in April 2009. The key purpose of the Bill is to implement the recommendations of the Gibbons Review of Employment Dispute Resolution and, therefore, to repeal the three-step statutory dispute resolution procedures. Find out more in this article.
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04/01/2008
Is compulsory retirement no longer safe?
As the Heyday challenge to the lawfulness of compulsory retirement continues, the courts have started accepting claims now before the final outcome in Heyday is known. We continue to believe that compulsory retirement is lawful for the time being, but there is clearly a risk. We look at the debate and give practical guidance for employers.
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06/08/2007
Discrimination Law Review – consultation launched
The Department for Communities and Local Government has published its long-awaited Review of Discrimination Law, which is intended to pave the way for a Single Equality Bill. EEF members are invited to give their feedback on the proposals.
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12/07/2007
Consultation over new powers to prevent illegal migrant working
The Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, part of the reform of the immigration system, contains a number of powers to tackle illegal working by nationals of countries outside the EEA. Before these provisions are brought into force, the Home Office is seeking views on its proposals to implement new powers.
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09/07/2007
Increasing minimum holiday entitlement
Minimum holiday entitlement will be increased from 4 to 4.8 weeks on 1 October 2007 (i.e. to 21 days in 2007 for full time workers and 24 days in 2008 where the worker’s holiday year begins 1 January) and from 4.8 to 5.6 weeks on 1 April 2009. This is a delay of six months from the original plan (i.e. to 27 days in 2009 and 28 days in 2010). Bank and public holidays count towards the total.
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01/07/2007
Smoking ban now in effect
From 1 July 2007, all workplaces in England must be smoke-free. Our guide for employers tells you what you need to do.
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30/03/2007
Employment law simplification
This briefing article summarises the aims of the DTI’s Employment Law Simplification Review (ELSR), that of reducing the compliance costs and complexity of employment law without diluting employee or union rights.
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29/03/2007
Equalities Review publishes its final report
Two years ago the government commissioned an independent review into the causes of persistent discrimination and inequality in British society. The Review, chaired by Trevor Phillips, has now published its final report: Fairness and Freedom: the Final Report of the Equalities Review.
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27/03/2007
Increases in SSP and SMP
From the beginning of April 2007, the standard weekly rates of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increase from £108.85 to £112.75.
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27/02/2007
Age discrimination and retirement – Advocate General’s opinion
In a Spanish case before the European Court of Justice (ECJ),
Advocate General Mazák has cast doubt on whether fixing a retirement age of 65 contravenes EU law.
This suggests the recent challenge to the
UK
age discrimination legislation, brought by the Heyday group, may not succeed.
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08/02/2007
Changing terms after a TUPE transfer – latest guidance from the courts
Employers cannot force employees to comply with new terms and conditions introduced following a TUPE transfer. Changes connected with the transfer are unenforceable even if the employees apparently agreed to them at the time. But what if the employees try to enforce the terms of the new package? According to a recent decision, they can do so. Employers cannot enforce changes but nor can they back out of them.
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29/01/2007
Working restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian nationals
Following Bulgaria’s and Romania’s accession to the EU on 1 January 2007, employers should be aware of restrictions which have been put in place to limit access to nationals of those countries to work in the UK labour market.
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01/11/2006
Employment Law Checklist - October 2006
For ease of reference, the cases reported this month are:
Cadman v Health and Safety Executive C-17/05
Keeley v Fosroc International Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1277
Willow Oak Developments Ltd t/a Windsor Recruitment v Silverwood and ors [2006] EWCA Civ 660
Johnson Matthey plc v Watters EAT/0236/0237/0238/06
London Borough of Lambeth v Corlett EAT/0396/06
Kelly-Madden v Manor Surgery EAT/0105/06
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03/10/2006
Employment Law Checklist - September 2006
For ease of reference, the cases reported this month are:
Glasgow City Council v Deans & Ors EATS/0061/05
Mohmed v West Coast Trains Ltd EAT/0682/05
Liverpool Community College v Bogart EAT/0234/06
Tarbuck v Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd [2006] IRLR 664
Draper v Mears EAT/0174/06
Bisset v Martins and Castlehill Association Ltd EATS/0023/06
Prakash v Wolverhampton City Council EAT/0140/06
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01/08/2006
Employment Law Checklist - July 2006
For ease of reference, the cases reported this month are:
• Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust [2006]UKHL 43
• Framptons Limited v Badger & others EAT/0138/06
• Woodward v Abbey National Plc [2006] EWCA Civ 822
• High Quality Lifestyles Ltd v Watts EAT/0671/05
• Fraser v HLMAD Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 738
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07/07/2006
Employment Law Checklist - June
This month’s Checklist includes two cases which are reported in detail. The first is from the Court of Appeal and confirms that there is no rule of law that only an appeal by way of rehearing, rather than a mere review, is capable of curing earlier defects in disciplinary proceedings. The second is a decision of the Special Commissioners of Income Tax on the taxation of payments in lieu of notice.
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04/05/2006
Employment Law Checklist - April
This month’s Checklist includes two decisions from the European Court of Justice. The first addresses the practice of rolled-up holiday pay. The second deals with payment in lieu of annual leave.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
For ease of reference, the cases reported this month are:
Robinson-Steele v PD Retail Services, Clarke v Frank Staddon Ltd and Caulfield and others v Hanson Clay Products Ltd C-131/04 and C-257/04;
Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging v Stat der Nederlanden C-124/05;
Vauxhall Motors v TGWU EAT/0657/05;
Caspersz v Ministry of Defence EAT/0599/05;
Calor Gas Ltd v Bray EAT 0633/04;
Werhof v Freeway Traffic Systems C-499/04; and
Powerhouse Retail Ltd v Burroughs [2006] UKHL 13
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06/04/2006
Employment Law Checklist - March
This month’s Checklist includes one Court of Appeal judgment concerning the employment status of agency workers, and an EAT decision where it was held that an employer had fairly dismissed two employees for misconduct in circumstances where a previous employee had received a final written warning for the same offence.
For ease of reference, the cases reported this month are:
Cable & Wireless plc v Muscat [2006] EWCA Civ 220
Enterprise Liverpool plc v Bauress and Ealey EAT/0645/05
Matthews and ors v Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority and ors [2006] UKHL 8
MacCartney v Oversley House Management EAT/0500/05
EB BA [2006] EWCA Civ 132
Gover v PropertyCare Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 286
A-G v Kuttappan EAT 16/12/2005
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06/04/2006
Employment Law Checklist - February
This month’s Checklist includes one Court of Appeal judgment concerning whether a modern apprenticeship can also constitute a common law contract of apprenticeship and a judgment from the Inner House of the Court of Session on the status of expired disciplinary warnings.
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03/02/2006
Employment Law Checklist - January
This month’s Checklist includes two cases in full. The first is a House of Lords judgment on the territorial scope of section 94 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The second is a Court of Appeal decision on the “genuine material factor” defence to an equal pay claim.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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16/01/2006
Employment Law Checklist - December
This month’s Checklist includes two EAT cases – Arriva North West & Wales v Colebourn and Southampton City College v Randall. The first concerns whether additional material emerging during the course of an appeal hearing can be taken into account without the need for a complete rehearing. The second states that the duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 can, in some cases, extend to creating a new post for a disabled employee.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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29/11/2005
Employment Law Checklist - November
This month’s Checklist includes two cases from the EAT: Elizabeth Claire Care Management Ltd v Francis which concerns dismissal for asserting a statutory right, and Greenhof v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council which concerns constructive dismissal arising from a failure to make reasonable adjustments.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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01/11/2005
Employment Law Checklist - October
This month’s Checklist includes three cases, two Court of Appeal and one EAT. The first Court of Appeal decision concerns what is required for an employer to enter into a binding contractual commitment and the second confirms that an employee’s personality cannot, of itself, be a potentially fair reason for dismissal, but can manifest in such a way as to bring the employee’s actions within a potentially fair reason for dismissal under the ERA. The EAT decision concerns a case, the facts of which occurred prior to the introduction of the statutory dismissal procedures, where the employer dismissed an employee without giving her the benefit of attending a disciplinary hearing.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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12/10/2005
ACAS Model Workplace
Acas has today launched “the Acas Model Workplace”, a ‘key points’ plan designed to help companies improve their business performance by focusing on good employment relations. The model, which is entirely voluntary, is split into three parts dealing with putting the right systems in place, developing relationships at work and greater employee involvement. Acas will be rolling out the Model at regional seminars throughout the country over the next three months. The Acas Model Workplace booklet will be priced at £4.95 but for an introductory period of three months will be available free for single copies or can be downloaded from
http://www.acas.org.uk
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30/09/2005
Employment Law Checklist - September
This month’s Checklist includes two cases, both at EAT level. The first concerns protective awards and the second confirms that a breach of the implied duty of trust and confidence will, of necessity, always be a significant breach going to the root of the contract of employment.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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21/09/2005
Civil Partnerships Act 2004
The Civil Partnerships Act comes into force on 5 December 2005. It creates a new legal relationship called civil partnership, for couples of the same sex. It provides couples who register for civil partnership with rights to equal treatment with married couples in a range of different areas.
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20/09/2005
Employment Relations Act 2004 - provisions in force from 1 October 2005
From 1 October 2005 the remaining provisions of the Employment Relations Act 2004 come into force. They are:
• changes to the statutory trade union recognition procedure, and
• changes to the information unions must give employers in industrial action notices.
In summary, these changes are likely to make it easier still for trade unions to achieve statutory trade union recognition and to meet the balloting and notification requirements under industrial action law.
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14/09/2005
Employment Law Checklist - August
We attach the Employment Law Checklist for August 2005.
This month’s Checklist includes two EAT cases and one NICA case. The EAT held in the first case that an employee’s refusal to sign to an unreasonable post-termination restriction could not constitute a fair reason for dismissal. In the second EAT case, it highlighted the correct approach to establishing a mental impairment other than a mental illness for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. In the third case, the NICA held that activities at work could be taken into account in assessing whether a claimant’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities were affected by his impairment..
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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26/08/2005
Employment Law Checklist - August
We attach the Employment Law Checklist for August 2005.
This month’s Checklist includes two EAT cases and one NICA case. The EAT held in the first case that an employee’s refusal to sign to an unreasonable post-termination restriction could not constitute a fair reason for dismissal. In the second EAT case, it highlighted the correct approach to establishing a mental impairment other than a mental illness for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. In the third case, the NICA held that activities at work could be taken into account in assessing whether a claimant’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities were affected by his impairment..
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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25/07/2005
Employment Law Checklist - July
We attach the Employment Law Checklist for July 2005.
This month’s Checklist includes three EAT cases on: (1) an employer’s duty with regard to suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation; (2) whether termination of a contract of employment on proper notice with an offer of continuous employment on different terms can give rise to breach of the implied term of trust and confidence; and (3) how to arrive at the real reason for dismissal.
We have changed the format of Checklist slightly, so that there is an additional section at the end which is likely to be of more interest to Association Officials than to member companies.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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30/06/2005
Employment Law Checklist - June 2005
We attach the Employment Law Checklist for June 2005.
This month’s Checklist includes two EAT cases. The first deals with: (1) ‘normal retiring age’ for the purposes of section 109 of the Employment Rights Act 1996; and (2) justifying a potentially discriminatory provision, criterion or practice. The second EAT case concerns section 10(1) of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996, which states that an employee’s complaint of unfair dismissal must be dismissed where the unfair dismissal was for the purposes of national security.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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03/06/2005
Employment Law Checklist - May
We attach the Employment Law Checklist for May 2005.
This month’s Checklist includes three cases, two Court of Appeal and one EAT. The EAT decision deals with the status of a trainee under a modern apprenticeship agreement. The Court of Appeal judgments deal with compromise agreements and jurisdiction for discrimination claims respectively.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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25/05/2005
Pay rises and SMP
With effect from 6 April 2005, the legislation relating to calculating SMP has changed. The Statutory Maternity Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 (SI 729) implement the ECJ’s decision in Alabaster v Woolwich plc and require employers to take account of any pay rises which take effect from the start of the calculation period until the end of maternity leave in the calculation of SMP. In short, the pay rise must be treated as having taken effect from the start of the calculation period.
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20/05/2005
Inland Revenue v Ainsworth
SUMMARY
The Court of Appeal in Inland Revenue v Ainsworth [2005] EWCA Civ 441 has ruled that employees who are absent from work on long-term sick leave are not entitled to claim holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations 1998. We have received many queries from Association officials as to the practical implications flowing from this decision. We now attach some background to the case, a summary of the decision, and practical guidance for Association officials in a question and answer format.
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29/04/2005
Employment Law Checklist - April
This month’s Checklist includes three cases, two Court of Appeal and one EAT. The first Court of Appeal decision states that workers on long term sick leave are not entitled to holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations. The second deals with when a prima facie case of discrimination is made out. In the third case, the EAT held that a redundancy dismissal was unfair where the employer failed to consider bumping a junior employee.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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28/04/2005
Bonus payments and maternity leave
In Hoyland v Asda Stores Ltd, the EAT has confirmed that an employer who pays a woman a reduced annual bonus prorated for only the period she was at work in the bonus year did not subject a woman to a pregnancy-related detriment or sex discrimination. It would, though, be unlawful sex discrimination to deny a woman a payment at all on account of her maternity absence.
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31/03/2005
Employment Law Checklist - March
We attach the Employment Law Checklist for March 2005.
This month’s Checklist includes two cases. One case has ruled that an ET1 which stated that the claimant had been “discriminated against on racial grounds” could not be said to have incorporated a claim for both direct and indirect discrimination. The second case debates, where an employee who has been unlawfully discriminated against is unfairly dismissed, whether or not the dismissal breaks the chain of causation so that any further loss results from the dismissal and is therefore assessed as part of unfair dismissal compensation.
The Checklist is highly selective and does not aim to cover all developments. It is not designed to replace study of all relevant legislation, law reports and periodicals, but it is hoped that the Checklist will draw attention to some interesting and topical issues.
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16/03/2005
Employment Tribunal Forms
The Government has delayed until 1 October 2005 implementation of the rule making it mandatory for Claimants and Respondents to use prescribed Emp |