Back in June 2013 I reported, in hindsight somewhat optimistically, the “last knockings” of the saga formerly known as Seldon – v – Clarkson Wright & Jakes https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/miss-collegiality-invalid-justification-in-uk-age-discrimination-claims/. This is the age discrimination claim by a law firm partner obliged to retire at 65, first brought in 2007 and finally killed off, we had thought, … Continue Reading
Braced for Monday? D-Day on the new Flexible Working rules has finally arrived, and with it, some new questions for employers. Whether or not you expect waves of new flexible working applicants storming up your company’s beaches first thing on Monday morning may depend on the nature of your business. A CIPD survey in 2012 … Continue Reading
Gender is a hot topic in the business world at the moment – and nowhere more so than in Japan. Back in January, Prime Minister Abe gave a special address at Davos in which he announced his intention to make Japan “a place where women shine.” This week, he announced his Growth Strategy setting out … Continue Reading
Following on from a series of seminars we delivered in June about how to manage recruitment effectively, I read an interesting piece by Gillian Tett in the FT last week – “A pride that still dare not speak its name in business” (FT, Comments & Analysis, 20 June 2014). Tett highlights how executives still feel … Continue Reading
Acas has now issued its draft Code of Practice on “Handling requests in a reasonable manner to work flexibly” (sic). This anticipates the coming into force on 30 June this year of a general eligibility to request flexible working and the replacement of the old rigid procedures with a blanket obligation on the employer to … Continue Reading
There being only so much fun you can get out of someone breaking an egg on Nigel Farage, no wonder the Press has now turned to Jeremy Clarkson’s alleged use of a word beginning with N during the filming of Top Gear. Clarkson has not helped himself here, his ground shifting uneasily from (a) never … Continue Reading
In the US, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) employers are required to provide qualified individuals who have a disability with a reasonable accommodation absent an undue hardship. Whether working from home is a reasonable accommodation is a fact intensive analysis that should be conducted for each circumstance. However, last week, the Sixth Circuit … Continue Reading
I’ve been watching The Voice recently, the UK “reality talent” show (not quite sure how much of that to put in inverted commas) where the judges have no idea what each singer looks like beyond a reasonably confident (though not always accurate) guess at his/her gender. At the point of casting their vote, the judges … Continue Reading
In a recent Radio Times interview Dara O’Briain, presenter of UK comedy quiz Mock the Week has hit back at BBC Director of Television Danny Cohen’s decision to require all such panel shows to feature at least one female comedian. While he obviously agrees that women should be involved in these programmes, said Mr Briain, … Continue Reading
Every so often a UK Employment Tribunal case is so newsworthy that it is reported beyond legal/HR circles and makes the national press. The case of two firearms officers with hands too small for their guns was a case that even The Telegraph could not resist reporting. Ms Wheatley and Ms Giles were (and possibly … Continue Reading
Last weekend, I watched what is tipped to be Leonardo Di Caprio’s Oscar–winning performance in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”. For those of you who haven’t yet seen the film it provides a testosterone-filled snapshot of life in Wall Street in the ‘80s: high risk deals, with plenty of drug and alcohol-fuelled ‘high-jinks’, … Continue Reading
So there I was, happily watching one of those television shows where journalists sit around a table and talk earnestly about football when suddenly off the conversational subs’ bench leaps a real employment law issue. The reference was made by Henry Winter (Daily Telegraph Football Correspondent), who claimed that he receives emails on a regular … Continue Reading
Although the ADA does not generally cover temporary impairments as disabilities under the law, the Fourth Circuit is the first Court of Appeals to declare that a temporary impairment can be severe enough to be a disability under the law. In Summers v. Altarum Institute Corporation [pdf], the court of appeals reversed the trial court’s dismissal … Continue Reading
Workplace relationships, petites aventures and flirtation between employees are a headache that many employers have to suffer. The management of workplace romance has become increasingly difficult with staff working longer hours and social media often blurring the lines between the professional and personal lives of employees. This issue was splashed across the press recently when … Continue Reading
My New Year’s Resolution was to go to a gym. I’ve done that now. As a result, I have developed a posture better suited to an amateur dramatics production of Richard III, and a number of body parts which have worked quite adequately for over half a century no longer do. Don’t let this be … Continue Reading
It was reported in the UK press just before Christmas that Marks and Spencer was forced to apologise to a customer after a Muslim employee refused to handle alcohol and so declined, politely and apologetically, to serve a customer trying to buy a bottle of champagne. This issue caused a bit of a Twitter storm, … Continue Reading
In the world of work in the UK there have been many decided cases and much official guidance to employers to the collective effect that if they respect the third of Mr Butler’s list, the Employment Tribunal will let them keep the other two. So why the uproar around Marks & Spencer last week, given … Continue Reading
The UK’s Daily Telegraph reported last week on the appeal of an Employment Tribunal decision in a claim brought by a black chef who complained about her boss using the word ‘golliwog’ during a conversation about the old Robertson’s Jam label. Although in use by the brand since 1910, the golliwog image was removed from … Continue Reading
The trouble with religion, as John Lennon might one day have said, is that it means different things to different people. At one end of any religion will be those for whom their holy book, whatever name it takes, must be complied with to the letter even though it is probably thousands of years old … Continue Reading
Most workplaces do (and indeed probably should) have a degree of daily workplace banter between employees within the workplace. It’s usually part of the oil which keeps the machine running happily and smoothly. But when does the banter cross the line from a little reciprocal mickey-taking and verbal jousting to help the day go past … Continue Reading
In my post on this blog on 3 October, I explained what JAC Recruitment’s research had shown to be the most common reasons for new hires going wrong – poor performance, mismatch of expectations and relationship issues. In this second piece, I will consider some steps which hirers can take to reduce these risks. Some … Continue Reading
The Government has announced that the third party harassment provisions in the Equality Act 2010 are to be repealed, effective from 1 October 2013. With that repeal we will see an end to what many commentators agree has been a particularly badly drafted piece of legislation. The question is whether this will be a step … Continue Reading
Days ago, on August 27, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced a Final Rule which increases the affirmative action obligations of federal contractors and subcontractors, which have been in place for over 40 years, with regard to individuals with disabilities (IWD) and military veterans. The Final Rule … Continue Reading
In a report published this weekend commissioned by former Conservative Deputy Chairman, Lord Ashcroft, a poll of more than 20,000 people revealed that 60% believe that immigration has overall brought more disadvantages than advantages to Britain. This is at odds with numerous academic studies showing that the net fiscal impact of immigration is positive but … Continue Reading
