Employers fearing rising labor costs can rest a little easier now after a Texas federal court struck down the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) final rule (the “2024 Rule”), which, in July 2024, increased the minimum salary employers are required to pay employees under the executive, administrative, and professional (“EAP”), or “white collar,” exemptions to … Continue Reading
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
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
We first reported in February 2023 on a surprising and alarming decision by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or “the Board”)—In re McLaren Macomb—which concluded that the mere proffer of a severance agreement with broad confidentiality and/or non-disparagement provisions could violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects the … 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
As we have previously reported, in early 2022, Congress passed and President Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFAA), a law that bans mandatory arbitration of certain sexual assault or sexual harassment claims. Since its enactment, we have tracked some of the procedural challenges … Continue Reading
The California Supreme Court in Bailey v. San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (S265223, July 29, 2024) clarified the circumstances under which a single racial slur by a coworker can lead to employer liability and further expounded on the type of conduct that can constitute an adverse employment action giving rise to a claim of retaliation. … Continue Reading
A recent California Court of Appeal opinion, Shah v. Skillz Inc., (2024) 101 Cal.App.5th 285, addressed two important questions relating to the valuation of stock options that have been the subject of litigation for many years: Are stock options wages? How are damages measured in a claim for breach of a stock option agreement? Although … 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
There will be few in HR who have not at some point heard an employee say that he is so incensed by something said about him the course of disciplinary or grievance procedures that he is going to sue for defamation. This is almost always said in anger and for a great many very sensible … 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
Last month the BBC reported the Employment Tribunal’s decision that it was fair to dismiss a Mr Doffou for gross misconduct because he had not paid for a handful of bags he packed his shopping in after his shift. Mr Doffou had been happily employed at Sainsbury’s in Romford for nearly 20 years when given … Continue Reading
Back in October 2022 we reported here on the EAT’s decision in Bathgate -v- Technip UK Limited. This was a particularly unnerving ruling to the effect that settlement agreements could not cover claims yet to arise because of the requirement under section 147 Employment Rights Act that such agreements must relate to “particular claims”. The … Continue Reading
Everyone knows that if there is something about a job which causes a disabled employee particular difficulties with it, the employer is under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the role to reduce or remove that disadvantage. But suppose that there are no adjustments to the role which can be made. Does that duty … Continue Reading
In the third of our short series “Workplace Harassment in Germany”, Laura Sparschuh takes a look at some recent court rulings regarding harassment. Awareness of workplace harassment as an issue in Germany has significantly increased over the past couple of years. In many cases of sexual harassment in particular, employers keen to be seen to … Continue Reading
Rule 37 of the 2013 ET Rules of Procedure contains the Tribunal’s nuclear deterrent, the power to strike out part or all of a claim or defence. That big red button can only be pushed for a small number of specified reasons including (for today’s purposes) Rule 37(b) that the manner in which proceedings have … Continue Reading
This week saw the issue of what will probably be the final version of the Government’s statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement. This follows the consultation on an earlier version which we covered here. The new Code comes accompanied by some Guidance which is an unusually, in fact disconcertingly, helpful summary of the … Continue Reading
Two recent cases on how Employment Tribunals should handle the inappropriate conduct of proceedings by claimants have shed some useful light on their more punitive powers. Both decisions made clear that the ET is far more interested in getting to a fair trial of the issue despite such conduct than in thumping claimants because of … Continue Reading
Faced with the inconvenient truth that we’ll all need to work longer to keep state pensions affordable, the Belgian government is focusing more intensely on employee training to ensure that the country’s workforce remains up-to-date and equipped with employable professional skill sets throughout their career.… Continue Reading
The ancient art of fiddling while Rome burns is obviously still flourishing in government, as witness the release last week of a new consultation paper on fees for Employment Tribunal claimants. My colleague Alexander Bradbury has the official line here. We have been this way before. The ET started charging claim and hearing fees in … Continue Reading
In 2013, the Government introduced fees for bringing claims to the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Although they were then abolished following a Supreme Court ruling in 2017, the issue is back in the spotlight and the subject of fee-rocious debate once more following the publication of a Government consultation into their re-introduction. … Continue Reading
In this last episode of our mini-series on long-term absence, we will zoom in on probably the most common current ground for long-term absence in Belgium, which is burn-out. Burn-out was in the Belgian press again recently because of a decision in the Antwerp Employment Court that it is discriminatory for a health care insurer … Continue Reading
In its judgement in Zabelin -v- SPI Spirits and Shefler this month, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has offered a refresher course on some important questions around protected disclosures, contracting out of statutory rights and when the Acas Code applies. The background facts are relatively simple. Zabelin worked for SPI which is owned by Mr Shefler. … Continue Reading
