In a case involving Ed Miliband, the GMB is appealing a judgment by an employment tribunal that it unlawfully discriminated against a GMB member and who worked for the union for his “left-wing democratic socialist beliefs”. The case, reported in The Times this week, is not the first case where such a political belief has been found to constitute a belief protected under the Equality Act....
The EAT has overruled a tribunal decision that the National Audit Office was entitled to rely on a general right to vary clause to reduce employees' entitlements without their consent....
There will be a very important international meeting next week, which could impact on UK strike laws in the longer term, dealing with the key question, “ Is there a right to strike?” The meeting, at which representatives of various governments, unions and employers organisations will be attending, including the CBI, will be at the United Nations in Geneva, where the UN agency for labour standards, the International Labour Organisation, meets. Clarkslegal attends the ILO’s annual conference on behalf of the CBI....
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has recently held that varying employees’ contractual terms and conditions may amount to indirect age discrimination where those changes disadvantage older workers (Braithwaite and others v HCL Insurance BPO Services Ltd UKEAT/0152/14). In the Braithwaite case however, the EAT found that the changes made to employees’ contracts could be objectively justified as there were no less discriminatory ways of achieving the employer’s legitimate aim of reducing staffing costs....
According to Action for Smoking and Health, there were 2.1 million adults using e-cigarettes in the UK last year. E-cigarettes pose a number of problems for employers, in particular, whether they should be used in the workplace....
In view of the increased risk of fraud and following high profile cases, the Land Registry has introduced means to protect individuals and companies who own property (where the title is registered at the Land Registry) against fraudulent transactions taking place without their knowledge. ...
You cannot have escaped the recent judgment regarding Gordon Ramsay. For those who haven’t heard of him he is a celebrity restaurateur and the star of several TV food programmes including Hell’s Kitchen. ...
In the recent case of Group M UK Ltd v Cabinet Office [2014] EWHC 3863 (TCC), the High Court awarded a successful tenderer its costs of participating in the Cabinet Office’s successful application to lift the automatic suspension on the award of the contract....
The EAT has upheld an employment tribunal's decision that an employee had affirmed her employment contract and could not, therefore, succeed in a constructive dismissal claim....
MW High Tech Projects UK Ltd v Haase Environmental Consulting GmbH [2015] EWHC 152 (TCC)...
Just over a year ago, we reported that the collective redundancy case concerning the collapse of Woolworths, and which continues to cause huge concern to employers. The case was referred by the Court of Appeal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ)....
As we are all painfully aware, the relatively slow pace of growth in the UK economy is a continuing concern, as it touches all aspects of our daily lives. When it is then considered that 99.9% of the UK’s businesses are SMEs, small businesses are crucial for growth....
The coffee sector in the UK is booming and seems set to continue this trend in the near future. A recent report by Allegra World Coffee Portal predicts turnover in the coffee market will rise from £7.2 billion to reach £16.5 billion by 2020....
The new shared parental leave rules apply in respect of babies due on or after 5 April 2015, which happens to be Easter Sunday this year....
The EAT has upheld a finding that two delivery drivers were unfairly dismissed when their employment was terminated on the basis of redundancy, following a change to their terms and conditions. For several years the drivers had been entitled to park their HGVs overnight at a secure facility near their homes in Stockport, and were paid for their time travelling to the employer's Wednesbury depot each day. ...
John Lewis Partnership has announced that with effect from February 2015 , when calculating holiday pay it will follow the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling last November that holiday pay must take account of non guaranteed overtime....
The Cabinet Office has published Cabinet Office Guidance on Settlement Agreements, Special Severance Payments and Confidentiality Clauses on Termination of Employment which will apply from 1 February 2015. ...
On 16 January 2015, Acas published a draft revised Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures providing new guidance relating to a worker's right to be accompanied. It confirms that an employer must agree to a worker's request to be accompanied by any chosen companion from one of the statutory categories, namely a fellow worker, trade union representative or official....
The High Court has given judgment in a case, which although it is not an employment case, considered the issue of whether a settlement agreement had settled future claims. Although the settlement agreement was, it appeared, drafted narrowly and only made reference to the specific claim number in the previous court proceedings, the court considered very carefully the statements of case of the original claims. ...
HMRC has announced that it will be withdrawing the "check off" facility, allowing union subscriptions to be collected through payroll, by the end of April 2015....