The EAT has held that an employer`s failure to provide an impartial grievance appeal process can amount to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence and form the basis of a constructive dismissal claim. In Blackburn v Aldi Stores Ltd UKEAT/0185/12, the same manager who heard the grievance hearing, also heard the appeal, dismissing the appeal following a 20 minute hearing. The employee...
Further to our blog on 26 July 2013, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has managed to get permission to appeal against the decision of the EAT in the Woolworths collective redundancy case. This is welcome news for employers, as it looked rather doubtful at one stage that BIS would be able to mount an appeal at all. The EAT`s decision in May of this year radically changed t...
Two candidates who attended interviews at Currys have complained about being made to dance at their job interviews. One apparently had to dance to Dizzie Rascal. The other said he had to dance in a robotic-style to a Daft Punk song which he compared to a scene from BBC`s The Office and described the experience as "humiliating". Whilst using various recruitment assessment tools at interviews ca...
The Government consulted on reforming the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ("TUPE") earlier this year. Yesterday the Government published its response....
Following on from the proposal for a new employee shareholder contract, which finally came into force in 1 September 2013, the Government has now produced guidance on employee shareholder status....
Buddy`s February article gave details on the proposed major changes to Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) (TUPE); further to this it is now being reported that the changes are planned to be introduced in January 2014 and will not come into force in October 2013 as originally intended....
Following a review of John Lewis`s payment practices, it was discovered that it had been miscalculating holiday pay for the past seven years. John Lewis had been calculating holiday payments based on contracted weekly hours of employees. It failed to take into account the higher hourly wage rate of employees working on Sundays and bank holidays, as required by the Working Time Regulations 1998, w...
Employers who fail to pay the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will be publicly named and shamed under revamped plans to make it easier to clamp down on rogue businesses....
When considering reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee when and, how should an employer make allowances for disability related sick leave? The EAT has issued some helpful guidance in Commissioners for HMRC v Whiteley UKEAT/0581/12 by suggesting there are ‘at least two approaches`: 1. to look in detail at the periods of absence under review and, with expert evidence if necessary, attemp...
The EAT in Brito-Babapulle v Ealing Hospital NHS Trust UKEAT/0358/12 has confirmed that an employment tribunal`s finding that gross misconduct does not mean that dismissal will automatically be within the band of reasonable responses. The EAT found that the approach of the ET missed out essential considerations upon fairness - whether dismissal was reasonable in the particular circumstances of t...
Are employees on long term sick leave entitled to carry over their full statutory holiday entitlement into the next holiday year?The Working Time Directive provides that member states must ensure that every worker is entitled to paid annual holiday of at least four weeks. This has been implemented in Great Britain by the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) which provide that all workers are entit...
The Court of Appeal issued some useful guidance as to when enhanced redundancy pay becomes a matter of contractual entitlement rather than just being payable at the employer`s discretion. In his judgment in the case of Park Cakes Ltd v Shumba & Ors [2013] EWCA Civ 974 on 31 July 2013, Lord Justice Underhill set out some useful non-exhaustive factors to consider: On how many occasions, and over...
In the case of Sud v London Borough of Ealing a robust decision has been made in the Court of Appeal upholding the tribunal`s decision to order the Claimant to pay 50 per cent of the Respondent`s legal costs. Background to the case/decision: The Respondents legal costs at full value were over £100,000. The Claimant had brought claims of unfair dismissal, detriment for having made protected dis...
Most controversial change to date? The introduction of Tribunal fees from 29 July 2013 is undoubtedly controversial and has sparked much debate...
The increasing use of "zero-hour" contracts by employers has been topical in recent months. Criticism has arisen because the employee must remain available for work whilst not being guaranteed regular hours and consequentially levels of pay remain unpredictable...
As previously mentioned on Employmentbuddy, there are six procedural employment law changes coming into effect on Monday, 29 July 2013. Tribunal fees. For the first time, claimants will have to pay fees to bring employment tribunal claims. See our new factsheet Employment Tribunal Fees [LINK] Tribunal rules. The rules of procedure in employment tribunals have been overhauled, the most important change b...
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has requested permission to appeal the recent judgment by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in the Usdaw v Woolworths case that means that collective redundancies need not be "at one establishment" for there to be a requirement for the employer to consult. We will keep you posted....
The Government has put out a call for evidence regarding the whistleblowing framework and whether it is operating effectively in today`s labour market. They are particularly looking for feedback on the provisions which were unaffected by the recent changes in the whistleblowing legislation and are considering whether any aspects of the protections no longer...
The ECJ has just issued its judgment in the important Alemo-Herron case, of particular relevance to public sector contracting. In a decision which will come as a relief for private sector contractors, it has ruled that the Acquired Rights Directive precludes UK courts from adopting a "dynamic" rather than a "static" interpretation of TUPE. In other words, where transferring employees` contracts p...
The recent case of Whitmar Publications v Gamage [2013] provides guidance for employers who find themselves in competition with former employees, when these employees have taken steps to compete with their employer whilst they were still their employees. In Whitmar, three employees had worked for the Claimant, a publisher, for a number of years. In January 2013 they resigned from their employme...