The Government’s CEST tool, designed to help determine whether a worker will be caught by the changes to the off payroll working rules (IR35) was unable to reach a conclusion in 19% of cases checked in the last year. ...
This month, the BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) opened their consultation on reforming employment contract non-compete clauses. Back in 2016, there was a close to universal consensus amongst employers that restrictive covenants are a valuable instrument for those seeking to protect their business interests. At the same time, their perceived impact on an ex-employee’s ability to find new work was deemed insignificant, or not unfair. ...
The April 2021 statutory maternity, paternity and sick pay rates have been released by the Government. The increases are modest at less than £1 per week. ...
The Employment Tribunal has issued a timely reminder to employers of the dangers of social media in the workplace, after finding in Abdi v Deltec International Courier Ltd that the employee had been harassed by her colleagues via WhatsApp. ...
The standard EC period is now 6 weeks rather than a month (but there is no longer the possibility of extending it by 2 weeks). Although this may appear to give people... ...
Festivities will be very different this year. Despite exiting a national Lockdown this week, 98.7% of the population in England find themselves in tiers 2 or 3 in the run up to Christmas. ...
The end of November has seen a cumulation of domestic violence focused stats and reminders. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on the 25th November saw the release of UK’s first comprehensive 10-year femicide census, which revealed harrowing figures, including that 62% of the deceased women were killed by their current partner or an ex, mostly in their own homes....
Employers can be liable for inducing a breach of a restrictive covenant, but relying on legal advice can provide a defence as held the Court of Appeal in Allen v Dodd & Co Ltd....
The Fawcett Society have marked Equal Pay Day – the day of the year on which women stop earning relative to men – by releasing a report warning the UK is at a crossroads on equal pay....
Last month our article discussed the employment law implications to consider if your employees are working from abroad during the pandemic....
Protection from health and safety detriments and the right to PPE should cover ‘workers’ as well as employees, High Court rules....
2020 is likely to be a year of financial constraints for many businesses. Therefore, the recent Court of Appeal decision in Heskett v Secretary of State for Justice [2020] could be good news for employers seeking to justify indirect discrimination as a biproduct of a short-term need to reduce expenditure. ...
On 5th November 2020, the Chancellor announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme would be extended until the end of March 2021. ...
In light of the new social media guidance the BBC imposed on its own employees, employers should be carefully considering whether or not their own social media policy sufficiently protects their interests....
Whilst the majority of the update confirmed information we already know, there were some important pieces of new information....
Less than 1 week ago, the government announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (the furlough scheme) would be extended for 1 month, to the end of November 2020, with government support for 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500 per month and employers only having to pay pension and National Insurance Contributions....
The first payment to include in a redundancy package is the statutory redundancy payment. This must be paid to all eligible employees and the amount is set by legislation. Other mandatory payments on termination would also include accrued but untaken annual leave and unpaid wages. Some employers, where the contract allows, may make a payment in lieu of notice....
When the UK went into lockdown in March, no one anticipated that we would be entering another in November. Again we have been told that those that can, must work from home. With the second lockdown starting today, many employees that had put-off purchasing home office equipment first time round, with the hope of returning to the office, may now be changing their minds....
On Saturday 31 October, the Prime Minister announced that England will enter its second lockdown as of Thursday 5th November....
The Government has injected further money into the Job Support Scheme (JSS) and modified the Scheme for businesses forced to close by under government lockdown orders (JSS closed) and for those still managing to operate but facing decreased demand (JSS Open)....