Today is Rare Disease Day 2012, an annual, international event raising awareness about rare diseases and their impact on patients` lives. According to the official website "One rare disease may affect only a handful of patients in the EU (European Union), and another touch as many as 245,000. In the EU, as many as 30 million people alone may be affected by one of the 6000 to 8000 rare diseases e...
In a landmark employment tribunal claim, a black professional footballer has become the first player to sue his club for race discrimination....
Redundancy is a potentially fair reason for dismissal. However in order to be actually fair a fair procedure must followed and the dismissal must be within the band of reasonable responses open to the employer....
Celestina Mba, a devout Christian worked for Merton Council at the Brightwell children`s centre in Morden until she claims she was forced to resign in June 2010 after being told she had to work on Sundays....
Gillie Christou and Maria Ward were dismissed by Haringey Council following allegations that they had failed in their duty of care towards Baby P, now named as Peter Connelly, who died aged 17 months after suffering abuse at the hands of his mother and her partner....
The Claimant brought a claim against his employer, a restaurant in Birmingham's Chinese Quarter, after he had his hours reduced by a new manager....
The Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") has held in the case of HM Land Registry v Benson & Ors that refusing voluntary redundancy applications from older employees because they were more expensive to make redundant is permissible....
Buddy published a blog in November lasy year regarding vicar, Reverend Sharpe, who had brought a Tribunal claim against the Diocese of Worcester. He alleged that he had been forced to leave his post following a campaign of bullying, including parishioners slashing his tyres, smearing excrement over his car, cutting his internet and phone connections, stealing his heating oil and even poisoning h...
The draft Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (Composition) Order is expected to come into force on 6 April 2012. The governmnet originally proposed the change in "Resolving work disputes: a consultation" and is part of wider reforms to the employment tribunal system. Employment tribunals normally comprise of an employment judge and two lay memeber however under section 4 (3) of the Employment Tribun...
When an employer is proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days, the employer must consult all appropriate representatives of the employees who may be dismissed....
Train driver Darrin Thomas took 134 days of sick in less than two years because he suffered from Asthma....
According to a survey completed by computer security firm Falcongaze, the top 5 reasons for the dismissal of office workers in 2011 were: The inappropriate use of working time and internet usage (26%) Making negative remarks about their employer or its management team on the internet (19%) Breach of company policies and procedures (16%) The employee searching for a new role (15%) Irrespons...
The Newcastle employment tribunal is to make a reference to the ECJ concerning whether, under EU law, a woman who becomes a mother by way of a surrogacy arrangement should be entitled to paid maternity leave to bond with her baby, establish breastfeeding and maintain and develop her family life....
The employment tribunal in the case Jessemey v Rowstock Ltd and another has held that an employer cannot be liable for acts of victimisation after the employee`s employment has been terminated....
Last week the Court of Appeal confirmed that Christian hotel owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull discriminated against civil partners Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall by refusing to allow them to share a double bed in 2008....
Following our previous blog announcing proposals to increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from 1 year to 2 years, the draft Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 2012 has now been published....
If an employment judge considers that all or part of a claim (or response) has little reasonable prospect of success, the judge can order the party in question, under the Employment Tribunal Rules, to pay a deposit of up to £500 as a condition of being permitted to take further part in the proceedings....
The CIPD has published Apprenticeships that work: a guide for employers as a one-stop-shop for employers looking to offer apprenticeships....
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has announced a new round of Government funding to support thousands of apprenticeships and help deliver the world class skills firms need to drive growth...
Employment contracts often label the employment status of a worker as either "employee" or "independent contractor". The main difference between the two being that employees have greater protection under employment laws and the employer is responsible for deducting PAYE and class 1 national insurance contributions....