In Flowers v East of England Ambulance Trust, The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that voluntary overtime should be included when calculating holiday pay, if it is paid over a sufficient period of time. The ambulance crew members in this case did both mandatory but non-guaranteed overtime (shift over-run) and voluntary overtime, both of which were irregular. However, the voluntary overtime was not included in their holiday pay calculations. ...
In Ali v Torrosian and others (t/a Bedford Hill Family Practice) the EAT confirmed that when determining a claim for unfavourable treatment arising in consequence of a disability, Tribunals must consider whether the employer’s pursued legitimate aim could be achieved by less discriminatory means. Discrimination arising from disability (“unfavourable treatment”) was a new ground of claim created under the Equality Act 2010. ...
As we have previously blogged, if an employee fails to produce evidence of his right to work in the UK, it will not necessarily be fair for an employer to dismiss on the basis that it would be illegal to continue to employ the employee. However, dismissal in these circumstances can still be fair if the employer has a reasonable and genuinely held belief that it would be illegal to continue to employ them and has followed a fair process....
If an employee is dismissed for gross misconduct just short of 2 years service, s/he cannot add on statutory minimum notice so as to qualify to bring an unfair dismissal claim, found the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Lancaster & Duke Limited v Wileman....
In a recent ruling by the Employment Tribunal, Hermes couriers have been deemed to be workers. This is the latest in a long line of decisions about the gig economy, including Pimlico Plumbers, Uber, Citysprint and Deliveroo, in which the general trend has been that those working in the gig economy have been found to have greater rights than the company may have envisaged....
In Kilraine v London Borough of Wandsworth the Court of Appeal has confirmed that to be protected under whistleblower legislation, disclosures need to be more than mere allegations and have sufficient factual content and specificity of a relevant failure set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996. ...
It is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for taking part in trade union activities at an appropriate time. It is also unlawful to subject an employee to a detriment on this basis. For a union official, union activities include seeking to present a case on behalf of his/her members....
It is common for parties to a tribunal claim to agree, at an early stage, the list of the issues that they want a tribunal to determine. In the recent case of Scicluna v Zippy Stitch the Court of Appeal has suggested that tribunals will usually be confined to these issues. ...
As huge numbers of employees face displacement by technology over the coming decade, nearly half all jobs in manufacturing according to some, what is the HR agenda to mitigate the human cost of this technological revolution?...
Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Blockchain are becoming more prominent, with ever-increasing uses. But how could such developments impact HR?...
The recent EAT decision of Quintiles Commercial v Barongo held that even in the absence of any prior warnings, a dismissal for misconduct is not necessarily unfair where the conduct is labelled ‘serious misconduct’ rather than ‘gross misconduct’. The Tribunals need to consider the circumstances as a whole when assessing the decision to dismiss....
With kick off for the FIFA World Cup on Thursday 14 June, Acas have released guidance for employers on managing workplaces during this time. ...
As we blogged, back in August, Pimlico Plumbers (“Pimlico”) were granted the right to appeal to the Supreme Court against a finding that one of its plumbers was a worker and not self-employed. Now, the Supreme Court has spoken and, as expected, it has dismissed Pimlico’s appeal....
Dixons Carphone’s review of data and its systems disclosed massive unauthorised access to 5.9 million customer cards and 1.2 million personal records. The incident gathers attention after both GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 (‘DPA 2018’) came into force on 25 May 2018....
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employer must allow employees time off for public duties. The Time off for Public Duties Order 2018 comes into force on 1st October 2018 and extends these rights. The right will now also be available to individuals who monitor conditions in places such as court custody, Scottish prisons, immigration removal centres and immigration facilities at ports and airports....
Technology is rapidly changing the way businesses manage talent. Businesses, new and established, are launching solutions based on everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to blockchain to big data and augmented and virtual reality....
The EAT has held, in Roddis v Sheffield Hallam University, that an employee on a zero hour contract can compare himself to a full-time employee for the purposes of pursuing a claim under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 (the Regulations). The Regulations provide protection for part-time workers against less favourable treatment on the ground of their part-time status. ...
In the case of City of York Council v Grosset, the Court of Appeal (COA) upheld a decision that an employer was liable for discrimination arising from a disability when it dismissed an employee due to misconduct, even though the employer was not aware that the employee’s conduct was due to his disability. The claimant was Head of English at a school and suffered with cystic fibrosis....
The technology sector has come under the spotlight for its lack of diversity after a series of high-profile cases of sexual harassment in Silicon Valley companies, including Uber. A series of scandals in the US about predictive policing and facial recognition software that cannot recognise black people have also raised concerns about ethnic discriminations....
In Bakkali v GMB (South) Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that asking a Moroccan Muslim bus driver whether he "still supported Islamic State" was neither direct discrimination nor harassment related to race or religion....