We are perhaps all guilty of doing some quick research online to make our presentations look more credible However, when can an employment tribunal do some research before making a decision? The answer is no, not if the parties do not agree to it. The EAT has ruled that a tribunal committed a procedural error in searching on the internet for evidence that supported a claimant`s case that she was...
An employment tribunal has confirmed that time spent by trade union representatives attending union meetings was not "working time" within the meaning of the Working Time Regulations 1998. A health and safety representative and a shop steward brought claims against their employer after it refused to take into account time spent on their union activities when calculating the 11 hour rest period th...
Employmentbuddy has just published two new free documents: Ebola - guidance for employers Ebola - information and guidance for employees We have made these documents accessible to all members. Please sign in to download your free copies. If you require further assistance please contact a member of the Employmentbuddy team....
The Employment Appeal has given its judgment in the case of three appeals - Bear Scotland Ltd and others v Fulton and others [2014], and Hertel (UK) Ltd v Woods and others [2014] and Amec Group Ltd v Law and others [2014]. The common issue in each of these cases was the calculation of holiday pay. The cases centered round the interpretation of Article 7 of the Working Time Directive. This Article reads as follows:...
Today the Employment Appeal Tribunal released its judgment in the three conjoined holiday pay cases. The Bear Scotland case (road construction and maintenance in Scotland) related to non payment of overtime and other payments associated with work in calculating holiday pay. The Hertel and Amec cases (construction) related to non payment of overtime an calculation of payment in lieu of notice on...
The Court of Appeal has upheld the finding that a beauty consultant was not in "employment" under section 83 of the Equality Act 2010 as she did not have a contract of employment or a "contract personally to do work". She provided her services through a limited company to a business which supplied staff to a third party (a cosmetics company) to work in an airport duty-free outlet. The Equality...
An agency worker, who worked for the Ministry of Defence for 8years, has failed in his attempt to claim that his employer had failed to comply with the obligation under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 whichprovides, "An agency worker has during an assignment the right to beinformed by the hirer of any relevant vacant posts with the hirer, to give thatagency worker the same opportunity as a com...
The Information Commissioner`s Office (ICO) has published an updated code of practice for CCTV and other types of surveillance cameras. It provides best practice advice, for those involved in operating CCTV and surveillance cameras that view or record individuals` information, on how to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. The code now provides specific guidance on particularly intrusive te...
The EAT has found that there was no disability discrimination based on a failure to make reasonable adjustments and that it was fair to dismiss a disabled employee who had received a final written warning for repeated absences and where the absence was unlikely to improve. In General Dynamics Information Technology Ltd v Carranza UKEAT/0107/14, the employee had received a final written warning fo...
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced plans to equalise parental leave and pay arrangements for members of the civil service. Female civil servants can currently take maternity leave at full pay, but partners would not receive full pay if they choose to take time off as shared parental leave with their partner. From April 2015, civil servants taking shared parental leave will be enti...
Acas has published Shared parental leave: a good practice guide for employers and employees....
The government has published new regulations to extend parental leave to parents of children aged between five and 18. This is due to come into force on 5 April 2015. At present, with the exception of parents of disabled children, only parents of children aged five and under can take such leave, which is currently a maximum of 18 weeks that is limited to four weeks per year....
The EAT has provided some guidance on making "Polkey" deductions. This is the deduction in compensation a tribunal will make in an unfair dismissal claim if it finds that the employee would have been dismissed in any event even if a fair procedure been followed. In Contract Bottling Ltd v Cave and another UKEAT/0100/14, the EAT overturned an employment tribunal`s assessment of a 20% Polkey deduc...
On 16 October 2014, Bruce Carr QC`s report setting out the findings of his Independent Review into the Law Governing Industrial Disputes was published. The review was launched following allegations of intimidation of managers by union representatives during the Grangemouth oil refinery dispute. The scope of the review was scaled back in April 2014 due to concerns on the part of Bruce Carr that it...
At the Conservative Party`s recent annual conference, the Prime Minister David Cameron proposed several reforms which affect employment law. Introduction of a British Bill of Rights. If elected in 2015, the Conservatives will pass a new British Bill of Rights, which Mr Cameron suggested would replace the Human Rights Act 1998. In response, the Law Society has commented that the Human Rights Ac...
Business Secretary Vince Cable has launched this week an ambitious sounding wide-ranging employment review to help clarify and potentially strengthen the employment status of up to a million British workers. This follows the recent review and upcoming legislation of zero hours contracts. It is considered that an increasing number of people in the UK are on ‘worker` employment contracts which hav...
Employers should be mindful of the need to conduct right to work checks when acquiring staff through a TUPE transfer. Employers cannot rely on previous checks! Since the May 2014 changes, the UKVI has allowed employers a grace period of 60 days from the date of transfer to carry out the appropriate document checks. Previously, employers were only allowed 28 days, and as such should you fail to co...
The Court of Appeal has restored an employment judge`s decision that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear claims for unfair dismissal and breach of the right to be accompanied at a disciplinary hearing where the claims were brought by an employee of a British company who had moved to work in Dubai ( Creditsights Ltd v Dhunna [2014]). CSL had an office in London and in New York. About 1...
BIS has published an Employers` Technical Guide to Shared Parental Leave and Pay The technical guide summarises the operation of the shared parental leave and pay scheme, considers a number of frequently asked questions and sets out worked examples. It covers some of the more technical aspects of the scheme that are not dealt with in detail in the main Shared parental leave and pay: employer guide on the GOV.UK site, such as the maternity leave curtailment rules.....
The BBC reports today that Sir Richard Branson, is offering his personal staff at Virgin as much holiday as they want, whenever they want....