I am actually much less tedious at dinner parties than this makes me sound, but I was reading the Annual Report of the new President of the Tribunals the other day and found some moderately interesting bits and pieces, if you like that sort of thing. In no particular order: It is clear that the … Continue Reading
Do you ever think that your line managers are making such a hash of a grievance or disciplinary process that it would be easier to do it yourself? Do you watch in horror as they stumble blindly but unerringly towards what is clearly the wrong decision? Are you tempted to give them a nudge in … Continue Reading
Are you sick of speculation about where the wheel will stop spinning on holiday pay? Just want to be given a safe position and stick with it? Do you have any commission or overtime claims against you stayed by the Tribunal pending a definitive steer from case law or legislators? Steps to provide some clarity … Continue Reading
This is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, so here are two brief and totally unrelated perspectives on mental health issues in the workplace. First, a cautionary note for employers in relation to Employment Tribunal proceedings brought by sufferers of serious mental health issues. In Higgins – v – Home Office decided last week, … Continue Reading
I am quite confident that a great many of us have considered the possibility of getting a tattoo. It may have been during the heady days of youth and only a fleeting fantasy, but a consideration nonetheless. I will freely admit toying with the idea right up to the moment I realised that ‘inking’ myself … Continue Reading
In the aftermath of International Womens’ Day, the history books were once again re-written when the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal classified a pregnant worker’s severe morning sickness as a disability under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). Ms Bevilacqua was a full time Sales Consultant at a Telstra store up until October 2013 when … Continue Reading
The long-awaited decision of the Leicester Employment Tribunal in Lock -v- British Gas was issued yesterday. It confirmed, as everyone knew, that holiday pay would have to include an element in respect of commissions, but it also provides for the first time a steer (using the word advisedly, for it is actually no more than … Continue Reading
It wouldn’t happen in professional football. There you are as coach, carefully psyching up your team to a nerve-jangling peak of readiness in the dressing room when one of the match officials trots in to tell you that the other side would actually rather come back and do it in three months, if that’s OK … Continue Reading
Employment Tribunal statistics released in March 2014 show that there has been a vertiginous drop in new employment claims since the new Tribunal fee structure came into force on 29 July 2013; the average number of claims per month in the October to December 2013 period being 79% less than the same period last year. … Continue Reading