Akinwunmi – v – Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is the perfect example of when employment law reaches the limits of its usefulness in HR practice. For a fuller description of the facts, see Chris Lynn’s blog. For our purposes, however, Dr Akinwunmi fell out with five of his neurosurgeon colleagues over alleged … Continue Reading
There was a great deal of entirely unfair schadenfreude directed at the Government last month over its abject failure to justify the Employment Tribunal fees regime in front of the Supreme Court. After all, apart from the report of its own Justice Committee, the views of everyone else from both sides of industry and all … Continue Reading
Statutory construction can be a bit like nuclear fusion – you take an atom of something relatively ordinary and then subject it to such pressure that it explodes into a million flaming pieces and lays waste to your entire afternoon. Employment Tribunals and Courts do the same to words, taking perfectly mundane sentences and phrases … Continue Reading
According to ACAS, “at least one in four of us will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in our lives”. A scary statistic, but scarier still is the prospect that this creates an annual cost for UK employers of £30 billion from both absences and “presenteeism” (i.e. turning up for work when … Continue Reading
This post was prepared with the kind assistance of Andy Bell, Deputy Chief Executive of the Centre for Mental Health, a charity dedicated to changing the lives of people with mental health problems by improving support and bringing about fairer policies. Many employers have experience of dealing with prolonged, costly and challenging sickness absences of … Continue Reading
Hot on the heels of our post on indirect discrimination in employee tests for promotion comes another decision posing similar challenges for employers. Government Legal Service –v- Brookes concerned the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) which forms part of the recruitment process for lawyers wanting to join the Service. Ms Brookes told the GLS in advance that … Continue Reading
So the “new look” 5th April, how was it for you….? Did you spend the day on “hold” as you scrabbled to use up your remaining ISA allowance? Were you locked in a room with your payroll provider getting all hot and bothered, or are you saving that for later in the month? Or are … Continue Reading
“Bosses can ban burkas, scarves, crosses” shouts the front page of last Tuesday’s Metro, followed by a commentary far too short to explain that this is almost always untrue. This is the resurrection of an old debate concerning the extent of your right to manifest your religion at work through how you dress. When last … Continue Reading
After the gestation period of an elephant, the Government Review of the impact of the fees for Employment Tribunal cases finally emerged squalling into the daylight earlier this month. Weighing in at a healthy 100 pages and with a foreword by proud father Justice Minister Sir Oliver Heald, the Review takes a detailed look at … 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
The Government announced in September its intention to undertake a full public consultation on the issue of caste and the Equality Act – a consideration which has been contemplated since the enactment of the Act in 2010. The aim of the consultation is to obtain views from the public on whether the Act requires additional … 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
Protecting your enhanced severance scheme Some employers pay only the statutory minimum entitlement on a redundancy dismissal, but others recognise that redundancy is a no-fault reason for termination and try to do something to sweeten an otherwise bitter pill. Maybe this is no more than paying in lieu of notice without deduction of tax (for … Continue Reading
UK employers take note – the Employment Appeal Tribunal has recently ruled that an employer was obliged to continue paying a disabled employee his full salary even though he had been redeployed into a less well paid role because he could no longer carry out his normal duties as a result of his disability. Such … Continue Reading
Dealing with employee absences and grievances in redundancy consultation You’ve delivered the at risk letter and sent the employee home on pay pending the formal consultation meeting. As an HR professional it is possible that your faith in human nature has become a little corroded over time, so you are not completely surprised when what … Continue Reading
Squire Patton Boggs and pre-employment screening specialists ADP present a webinar focussing on the common issues arising at the start of the employment process. On 27 September 2016 at 10.30 am BST, David Regan and Annabel Mace from Squire Patton Boggs and Lisa Lee from ADP will consider: Pre-employment screening Why do it? When is … Continue Reading
Managing redundancy for those on maternity leave Many employers get nervous when carrying out redundancy exercises if the selection pool includes a woman who is pregnant or on maternity leave. The risk of a claim for discrimination or an unfair dismissal claim if she is made redundant is often on their mind. The fact that … Continue Reading
The vexed question of an employee’s right to manifest his religion in the workplace has twice raised its head in the EU courts in recent months. Employers seeking a definitive steer on the question should look away now. Both cases deal with similar facts and contain exhaustive reviews of relevant considerations and authorities, and then … Continue Reading
When you work late in the office, why? Because it will make the following day that bit less fraught? Because you do not want to be seen as a clock-watcher? Because you think it will help your bonus or job security? Because you believe it is the right thing to do for the good of … Continue Reading
Does really just anything count as a philosophical belief these days? An impression you could reasonably take away from the headlines in the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s decision in Harron –v- Chief Constable of Dorset Police last week but happily not one completely borne out by closer reading. Mr Harron considered himself to have been discriminated … Continue Reading
Readers with long memories may remember my blog from a year ago regarding potentially offensive tattoos in the workplace. https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/offensive-tattoos-in-the-uk-workplace-come-on-be-reasonable/ That blog focused on the scenario where an employee bears a tattoo which offends another employee in the workplace, but what about a tattoo that you as employer feel is plainly inappropriate for the working … Continue Reading
I have never been pregnant, nor do I anticipate any change in that position. The comments which follow concerning last week’s report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission on pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination must please be seen in that light. However, I hope I have at least retained the ability to distinguish between fact … Continue Reading
So there they are, the draft Regulations proposed to implement gender pay gap reporting. No doubt there will be a storm of flak from all directions over these, from employers because compliance requires a considerable amount of work and from unions and employees because the Regulations have no legal teeth – there is no penalty … Continue Reading
A week ago, President Barack Obama announced further efforts by the White House and EEOC to combat gender pay equality issues. The momentum from last week’s announcement carried its way up the coast from the District of Columbia to the state legislature of New Jersey. Yesterday, New Jersey’s Senate Labor Committee approved Senate Bill 992 … Continue Reading
