The Supreme Court in their judgment this morning have ruled that Asda shop workers, who are predominantly female, can compare themselves to their colleagues who work in Asda distribution centres, who are predominantly male, in their equal pay claim. For equal pay claims, the comparator the claimant relies on must be employed by the same employer either at the same establishment, or at a different establishment with ‘common terms’. ...
This year many businesses may sadly have to start selecting some employees for redundancy as furlough leave becomes more expensive and finally ends. Alternatively, managers and HR departments may have to pick up those outstanding performance or conduct issues as furloughed employees return to work. ...
Uber’s announcement about how it will pay its drivers following the Supreme Court decision last month has produced much discussion. ...
On 17 March, the Government wrote to those who are categorised as clinically extremely vulnerable to advise them that from 1 April 2021 they no longer needed shield. ...
The Minister for Women & Equalities, Liz Truss, has called on employers to make flexible working the standard as the UK recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
Employees working from home regularly may be able to benefit from certain tax exemptions, although this cannot be where they are working informally, HMRC guidance has confirmed that if an employee is working from home due to COVID-19, the definition of a homeworking arrangement for tax purposes, will be met for this period. ...
The employment tribunal in Kubilius v Kent Food Ltd ET 3201960/2020 has given judgment on whether dismissing an employee on the grounds of gross misconduct, for not wearing a face mask, was fair. ...
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #ChoosetoChallenge. This is a call not just to women, but to people of any gender to challenge the barriers to gender equality in society, wherever they exist, and to use any privilege or influence they may have to further the cause of gender equality. ...
The Government has confirmed that the furlough scheme will be extended for a further 5 months and will now end on 30 September 2021. ...
With the understandable focus on measures to ease lockdown, keeping up with data protection announcements is unlikely to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds. ...
On 6 April 2020, the law relating to employment contracts changed. It now requires further information to be included in contracts and for this to be given to all employees AND workers no later than day one of work. ...
HMRC have lost their appeal against a ruling which found that the journalist and broadcaster, Kay Adams, was not in a ‘disguised’ employment relationship with the BBC when she was providing her services via her personal service company. ...
You may have seen our previous blog on rolling out vaccination programmes for employees. The debate on whether the workforce should be vaccinated continues at a pace in the press, where we have seen Barchester Healthcare join Pimlico Plumbers in considering all new recruits having to be vaccinated as a requirement of the role....
As expected, the Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the decisions of the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal that the Uber drivers in this case were workers and not self-employed contractors. ...
On 15 February 2021 HMRC published its policy paper explaining how it intends to help and support organisations which must comply with changes to the off-payroll working rules (IR35)....
The case of Allay (UK) Ltd v Gehlen, is a stark warning to employers not to rely on ‘stale’ or ‘ineffective’ equal opportunities and anti-harassment training as a defence to claims of unlawful discrimination. ...
Mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting could become the norm, as calls for its introduction intensify. ...
The IR35 private sector reforms are due to come in on 6 April 2021. If after a status determination statement (SDS), the contractor is found to be employed for tax purposes, then they will have to pay tax and national insurance contributions (NICS) as if they were an ordinary employee. ...
Since 2017, employers with 250 or more employees have had a duty to publish their gender pay gap data. The gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women across an organisation. The reporting duty was suspended in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic....
On 31st January 2020, the United Kingdom formally left the European Union. The UK has now entered into a new trading partnership with the EU under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. New rules now apply on exports, tariffs, data and employing people from within the EU. ...