In 2020, Ms Korpysa was told that because of the COVID lockdown, her workplace would be closing. She thought that meant that she was being dismissed, and asked her employer, Impact Recruitment Services Limited, for details of her contract, accrued holiday pay entitlement and (said Impact) her P45. Impact took that as meaning that she … Continue Reading
So here it is, 2025’s first serious contender for the What On Earth Were They Thinking? Awards, an unfair dismissal case with a common-sense answer so clear you could see it from Mars, but which it nonetheless took five years and the Court of Appeal to arrive at.… Continue Reading
As was widely reported in the press, the FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority both recently issued announcements (FCA announcement / PRA announcement), the contents of which are variously being reported as “a retreat from efforts to help under-represented groups” (as per the Guardian) and, by contrast, a welcome “response to criticism that [the proposed new … Continue Reading
In 2019 a Mr Easton applied for a role with the Home Office to work in the Border Force. As part of that process he was required to fill in (without guidance) a blank box headed “Employment History” which he completed with details of prior roles held and the years in which each had begun … Continue Reading
In these days of fevered and angry social media comment on almost everything, it is always wise for HR to keep its feet anchored firmly on the ground when all that online bile and indignation washes up at the employer’s door. Here to help with that is this week’s Court of Appeal decision in Higgs … Continue Reading
It’s still not too late to make a fool of yourself over a colleague for Valentine’s Day, so here’s a brief reminder of what may happen if you do.… Continue Reading
It is clear from the press in recent weeks that there has been a widespread shift in terms of how much homeworking employers are willing to allow and indeed, in some cases, an almost complete volte face – with numerous house-hold name employers reportedly mandating their staff to work four or five days in the … Continue Reading
Here’s a sentence you don’t see very often, but hats off to the Regulatory Policy Committee for its excoriating review last week of the thinking behind the new Employment Rights Bill. The RPC is a body set up by the Labour government in 2009 as part of its Better Regulation Framework to ensure that the … Continue Reading
I think I speak for many in the employment law community when I say that Section 111A(4) Employment Rights Act has always been something of a disappointment. Here we have a provision which allows the protection of a protected conversation to be blown apart by improper behaviour, a term wholly undefined in the Act, and … Continue Reading
So now we finally have a definitive answer to the question of whether being on maternity leave at the time redundancies are declared gives you priority in the selection process. That answer is no. And yes. As we can say entirely definitively, it all depends. Let us take two scenarios. … Continue Reading
Before getting into the detail of last week’s Employment Bill, which we will do here separately, a brief review of its press release. Where new law is proposed, this is usually a good starting point from which to judge the quality of the legislation it supports. On that basis, I think it fair to say … Continue Reading
Back in August I wrote this piece All the fun of the fair – new tips Code offers bumpy ride to service-sector employers (UK) about the difficulties inherent in trying to mandate “fairness” by statute. I made reference to the then pending non-statutory guidance to supplement the statutory code on how to distribute gratuities under … Continue Reading
“Unfair dismissal rights from Day One”, said the Labour Manifesto, subject always to a probationary period in which terminations will not be challengeable as unfair provided that employers operate “fair and transparent rules and procedures” to provide what Angela Rayner described as “basic rights”. We are now told that the probationary period will be six … Continue Reading
There are a multitude of decided cases concerning employees dismissed for exhibiting unattractive beliefs at work, but rather fewer about those sacked for the mere holding of them. Particularly in view of this summer’s riots, that makes the EAT’s decision this month in Thomas -v- Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust a timely and … Continue Reading
So having made a “right to disconnect” for workers a manifesto promise pre-election, the new government must now do the less glamorous work of turning a political sound-bite into actual law. Early reports are not promising – they suggest a requirement to agree a code of conduct with your workforce in relation to out-of-hours contact, … Continue Reading
It is a normal principle of English employment law that clear notice of termination, once given, cannot be retracted without the consent of the other party. The few cases there are on the point relate mostly to employees resigning in a temper or when their judgement is significantly and visibly impaired through illness or drink, … Continue Reading
If the UK introduced a piece of employment law to require all employees to be nice to each other in the workplace, then you would instantly and rightly dismiss it out of hand. What a ridiculous idea – how can you define what it is to be “nice” and without that, how can you determine … Continue Reading
In a recent article on the Employment Law Worldview blog we looked at how a workplace grievance can lead to a defamation claim. The judgment, whilst primarily concerned with whether such a claim could be brought in the first place, also pondered the issues around raising a qualified privilege defence in such circumstances. This is … Continue Reading
How does the FCA expect a firm to go about investigating allegations of NFM? If someone’s non-financial misconduct breaches the Conduct Rules, does that mean they need to be dismissed? These questions arise frequently in the HR and Compliance departments of FCA and PRA regulated businesses. Perhaps that is because, despite clearly articulating its expectations … Continue Reading
If the Financial Conduct Authority is to extend or confirm (depending on what you read) its remit to include non-financial misconduct and specifically bullying and harassment in its fitness and propriety assessment, then the potentially career-ending consequences for those concerned require that we are all very clear as to what those terms mean.… Continue Reading
“Non-financial misconduct is misconduct, plain and simple” – that is what Christopher Woolard (former FCA director) said in 2018. Except that as it turns out, fairly predictably when dealing with shades of human behaviour, it’s not that plain, nor that simple. With a lack of guidance on what non-financial misconduct (NFM) actually is, firms have thus … Continue Reading
The FCA’s consultation paper (CP23/20) proposes a framework to establish and define the minimum standards expected from regulated individuals in the financial services sector. Specifically, it clarifies the FCA’s expectations around non-financial misconduct (NFM). But, if implemented, will these proposals actually change anything? We think these rules would have a direct effect on the conduct … Continue Reading
“HMRC boss sending worker unwanted birthday card was harassment“, said the Times Online yesterday, surely a second nailed-on candidate for 2024’s No Good Deed Awards after a similar allegation earlier this year in relation to offering an older worker a chair. Needless to say, there is somewhat more to the story than that, so those … Continue Reading
In an earlier post we looked at how far a settlement agreement could validly waive claims in respect of things which haven’t yet happened. The Scottish Court of Session in Bathgate -v- Technip UK Limited had very sensibly indicated that you can agree not to pursue future rights provided that the settlement agreement contains wording … Continue Reading
