Towards the end of last year, the EAT in De Bank Haycocks v ADP RPO UK Ltd caused a bit of a stir in employment law circles when it suggested that even in smaller-scale redundancy situations (i.e. where collective redundancy consultation obligations are not triggered), there should be “general workforce consultation”. Unhelpfully for employers, it … Continue Reading
Answer – for the most part, roughly where we were three months ago. In September, we produced a short note setting out the state of play in the EU concerning implementation of the new Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law (the Whistleblowing Directive). Very little has changed since then, … Continue Reading
As the law currently stands, sections 44 and 100 Employment Rights Act 1996 protect employees against detriment (e.g. disciplinary action or suspension of pay) and dismissal as a result of their taking steps to protect themselves or others in certain health and safety situations, including where “in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed … Continue Reading
Just a quick update for any employer currently preparing its gender pay gap report for 2020/21. As you may have seen, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has confirmed that “due to the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, enforcement action against employers failing to report their gender pay gap will start on 5 October … Continue Reading
Businesses in Great Britain with 250 employees or more are required to publish information annually showing the difference in average pay between their male and female employees – the “gender pay gap”. This year the reporting obligation was suspended, but what is likely to happen for the reporting year 2020/21?… Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued new guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work. The guidance is very comprehensive, running to some 82 pages, but if you are responsible for drafting your company’s harassment policies or for handling such complaints in the workplace, you should still take a look at … Continue Reading
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has issued new guidance on the use of confidentiality agreements (often referred to interchangeably as “non-disclosure agreements” “NDAs”, “gagging clauses” or “confidentiality clauses”) in discrimination cases. The stated aim of the guidance is to “clarify the law on confidentiality agreements in employment and to set out good practice … Continue Reading
On 25 September, we were joined at our London office by clients and contacts for a discussion on sexual harassment in the workplace, in particular the proposals set out by the UK government in its consultation document. The event was a great success and we are grateful to our panel of high profile speakers for … Continue Reading
Normally an employer will be liable for one employee’s harassment of another unless it has taken “all reasonable steps” in advance to stop conduct of that sort happening, the “statutory defence”. Employment Tribunals can be reluctant to allow an employer to escape liability in that way because that may leave the employee without meaningful recourse … Continue Reading
Learning point 4: a disclosure does not have to be either true or in the public interest to qualify for protection, provided the worker has a reasonable belief that both are the case… Continue Reading
This time concerning how holiday pay should be calculated for those who only work for part of the year, e.g. term-time workers, and arguably proof positive of the old legal maxim that “hard cases make bad law”.… Continue Reading
Learning point 2: remember that you are in control of the whistleblowing investigation If a worker raises concerns about something which might represent serious wrongdoing in the workplace, the first step is to get a clear understanding of what they are complaining about.… Continue Reading
Over the last 12 months we have seen a significant increase in queries on whistleblowing in the workplace. It seems that more and more individuals are “blowing the whistle” and claiming they have been dismissed or suffered a detriment for having done so.… Continue Reading
On 7 February the UK Government published its ‘Good Work’ plan, setting out how it intends to take forward the recommendations contained in the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices published last summer. The Review was tasked with investigating how modern working practices are having an impact on the world of work. The Government’s press … Continue Reading
At our recent webinar on “GDPR Compliance: How UK Employers Can Meet the 25 May 2018 Deadline” we were asked a number of questions via the chat facility. Those questions showed that with less than a year to run and much to do before then, there is still widespread uncertainty as to the detail of … Continue Reading
As we have mentioned in previous blog posts, having a gender pay gap does not mean in any way that an employer has necessarily failed to comply with its equal pay obligations under the Equality Act 2010. But this new obligation to publish pay information is likely to bring the issue of equal pay to … Continue Reading
We recently ran a webinar on the new gender pay gap reporting obligations coming into force in the UK in April. During and since the webinar we have been asked a number of questions about how the new reporting obligations will work. Here are some of these questions and our outline answers. Will group reporting … Continue Reading
This week the UK government has published the revised version of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 in the form in which they are likely to come into force on 6 April 2017. Join us at our webinar on Thursday 15 December 2016 from 12 – 1pm GMT when we will … Continue Reading
The wait is over! Yesterday the UK Government issued the revised Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Technically the Regulations are still in draft (as they have yet to be approved by Parliament), but the content should not change between now and when they are due to come into force on 6 … Continue Reading
At this stage we are still waiting for the final regulations on the new mandatory gender pay gap reporting obligations. This current series of blog posts is therefore based on what we know from the draft regulations and discussions around them. In terms of which employers will be caught by the new gender pay gap … Continue Reading
Sometimes people get confused between the gender pay gap and equal pay. They are not all the same thing. The gender pay gap measures the difference between men and women’s average pay. Equal pay, on the other hand, is the legal obligation under the Equality Act 2010 that requires employers to give men and women … Continue Reading
Over the next few weeks into the New Year we are going to publish a series of short blog posts on gender pay gap reporting in the UK, based on the questions we have been asked by clients and contacts in recent months. By the time we get to the end of our series, the … Continue Reading
Today (10 November) is “Equal Pay Day” in the UK. It marks the day in the year when the average full-time working woman in the UK effectively stops earning compared to the average full-time working man because of the gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is the difference between men and women’s average earnings. … Continue Reading
