Man City Footballer, Carlos Tevez, seemingly refused to play as a substitute in a match on 27 September 2011. His boss, Roberto Mancini, reacted by saying: "If we want to improve as a team, Carlos can`t play with us. With me, he is finished." Would Mancini have grounds to dismiss Tevez? Playing football for Man City will be the main obligation Tevez should fulfil under his contract o...
Despite its red tape review stating that the increase in the qualifying period of employment need to bring a claim of unfair dismissal in the Tribunal would be increased to 2 years, the Government has announced that the increased is not yet definite. The review paper stated "We are increasing the qualifying period for employees to be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal from one to two year...
The Government has published proposals to deregulate business....
It has been reported in the Metro that an 18 year old pot washer was dismissed days after informing her employer that they would have to increase her hourly rate from £4 to £4.92 after she turned 18. The employee brought and won a claim for age discrimination in the employment tribunal. Some employers mistakenly believe that they can treat young workers, particularly those just...
The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 comes into force on 1 October 2011. This Act amends the existing Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 known as the Construction Act. The Construction Act was intended to improve payment practices within the UK construction industry. The future changes follow the same agenda, widening the application of the Construction Act to unwritten contracts and offering enhanced protection from unfair payment procedures....
A recent case serves as a timely reminder of the serious consequences that can follow if a person includes a statement in a witness statement or other Court document which they know to be untrue. In legal proceedings, the parties are required to verify certain Court documents by signing what is called a "Statement of Truth". This is a statement that the individual honestly believes that the information in the document is true....
Under the Equality Act 2010, where an employee is placed at a disadvantage by an employer`s policy, criterion or practice, the employer is under a duty to take reasonable steps to avoid the disadvantage....
In the case of Williams and others v British Airways plc (Case C-155/10 ECJ), the ECJ has held that airline pilots’ paid annual leave must include supplementary flying payments. The case was referred to the ECJ by the Supreme Court. In this case, the pilots’ holiday pay was made up of their basic salary but did not include flying supplements to which they were entitled as part...
A BT telesales worker earning £20,000 p.a., who left her job after several incidents of alleged bullying, has been awarded a record £290,000 payout from BT after her complaints of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal were upheld. This sum represents the highest Employment Tribunal payout in the past year and included damages for personal injury, loss of potential future earnings and injury to feelings. The Tribunal found that the line manager responsible for the harassment had displayed a bullying management style and had used "obscene, homophobic and racist language."...
A recent ECJ case (Prigge and ors v Deutsche Lufthansa AG), on appeal from the German Federal Labour Court, has held that a compulsory retirement age of 60 for Lufthansa airline pilots (set out in a collective agreement) was unlawful. The ECJ concluded that this provision was a "disproportionate requirement" that went against International and German national measures whereby the mandatory retirement age for pilots is 65....
This is the question posed by the recent EAT case of Perry v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. In this case the employee worked for two different NHS Trusts in different roles. She fell ill and, due to mobility prioblems, was signed off sick by Imperial. She was well enough to continue with her other job and did so. Imperial found out, felt she had&nbs...
It was reported in this week’s Grazia magazine that a new cause of action in employment law is taking off in the United States, “Personal Appearance Discrimination”. A number of US States and districts (for example the District of Columbia and Santa Cruz, California) now protect personal appearance in the same way they protect racism, and sexual harassment. The definition of pe...
As has been recently well publicised, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (due to come into force next month), will provide agency workers with the same rights as employees with respect to pay and benefits after a 12 week qualifying period (i.e. a 12 week period working in the same role). Specifically, provisions with respect to: basic pay, overtime, individual performance related bonu...
The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 came into force on 10 September 2011. The Regulations set out the specific public sector equality duties that certain public bodies must comply with. The aim of the specific duties is to help public bodies comply with the general duty to promote equality in the workplace which has been in force since 5 April 2011. The first spe...
Employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to mitigate the impact a provision, criterion or practice has on a disabled employee....
For many years, mediation has been an important part of dispute resolution in the UK. Mediation offers a cost-effective and confidential way for parties to settle their differences and often enables parties to maintain ongoing business relationships which could be irretrievably damaged if the dispute proceeded to a full Court trial....
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), an independent advisory body, has advised that number of jobs on the Shortage Occupation List be reduced. This will limit migrants from outside the EEA to a smaller proportion of occupations in the UK. The MAC recommended that the list be reduced to cover 190,000 employees (not migrants), less than 1% of the UK workforce. In 2008 that list covered over 1 m...
For the first time, the Court has awarded what may turn out to be substantial damages to an energy supplier for the breach of their human rights by the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets ("OFGEM")....
One of the many advantages of arbitration over court proceedings is the flexibility of the process. The parties are able to agree most aspects of the conduct of the arbitration to suit their needs and the nature of the dispute. For example, parties can agree the venue of the hearings, the language of the hearings and how evidence is presented to suit their particular requirements....
Under the Working Time Regulations a worker is entitled to a daily rest break if their daily working time exceeds six hours....