Of course it could just be coincidence, but scarcely hours after my post last week concerning the dearth of the employment law candidates for the Brexit red-tape bonfire, out pops a Gov.uk policy paper on “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy” containing the first five suggested victims. And what a woeful little bunch they are, … Continue Reading
So if in some parallel universe you had somehow acquired the ability to strike red lines through EU-derived employment legislation, where would you put them? That is a question I put well before the Brexit Referendum to countless HR audiences, the very people one might think would be straining at the leash to make changes … Continue Reading
King –v- Sash Window Workshop Company was a particularly difficult European Court of Justice case for businesses in the gig economy. It suggested that where a worker was not provided with an adequate facility to take the paid leave to which he was entitled by that status under the Working Time Regulations (in particular, because … Continue Reading
If you have recently read the headline, say, “Directors personally liable for company’s breach of employment contract” and now quail in anticipation of a whole new avenue of attack on your business, fear not. All is not as it seems.… Continue Reading
Massachusetts Imposes One-Year Cap and Other Restrictions On Non-Compete Agreements The Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (see link, at Section 24L) (“MNAA”) effective October 1, 2018, places new restrictions on the length and applicability of non-compete agreements between employers and employees who work within the state of Massachusetts. (Note that the law defines employees to include … Continue Reading
Here is a new case which you think initially might be quite helpful on the calculation of holiday pay, but which then suddenly veers off into the contractual undergrowth, and actually isn’t. However, what it does do is administer a sharp lesson about the wisdom of trying to incorporate broad principles into individual employment contracts. … Continue Reading
One of the last remaining pieces in the jigsaw of what constitutes “normal pay” for the purpose of calculating statutory holiday pay was slotted into place by the Employment Appeal Tribunal on Monday when it confirmed that such calculations should include voluntary overtime. Willetts and Others v. Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is a claim for … Continue Reading
Rumbling around at the less well-publicised end of the holiday pay saga is the question of just how far back such claims can go. Changes to the Employment Rights Act 1996 limited this to two years for claims brought after 1 July 2015, but thanks to Bear Scotland Limited, the actual exposure may be very … Continue Reading
As we have said many times before on this blog, it is all very well for the Courts and Tribunals to say that overtime must be “taken into account” for holiday pay purposes. What is missing for employers are answers to the key issues of how and when, the practical questions which all the senior … Continue Reading
We were in the hallowed legal portals of Farringdon’s Bleeding Heart Restaurant last week for a client dinner on the still vexed issue of holiday pay. “Hallowed legal portals”, because so far as I know, no other restaurant has been cited so frequently in the employment law reports as just the only place to go … Continue Reading
The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal has today added its small contribution to the debate around the inclusion of overtime earnings in holiday pay. The direction it has taken in Patterson –v- Castlereagh Borough Council is logical up to a point, but of terrifyingly little practical assistance to employers looking for some, indeed any, reliable … 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
