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
The woman who was called “Crazy Miss Cokehead” by her manager has been awarded nearly £3.2m by an Employment Tribunal for sexual harassment, reportedly including £44,000 for injury to feelings and a further £15,000 in aggravated damages. We originally posted a blog on this story in November 2013 https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/crazy-miss-cokehead-when-banter-goes-too-far/. Following the liability hearing, the Tribunal … 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
Some reassuring guidance for employers on the conduct of disciplinary investigations from the Court of Appeal last week – not new law but a clear and helpful analysis of just how far you have to go to investigate an employee’s defence. Mr Shrestha was employed by Genesis Housing Association as a support worker, a role … Continue Reading
I have forgotten many things in my time – appointments, my wife’s birthday (just the once, that would be) and most of my O Level grades. On the other hand, I am pretty sure that I have not forgotten being in a helicopter over Iraq when brought down by enemy fire. Unless I had lived … 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
For those looking to inject a bit of spice into 2015’s recruitment programme, and courtesy of financial news website, Hereisthecity.com [link], we present “The nine rudest things that interviewers do to job seekers”. This is on closer review a rather limp selection, not close to the sort of ritual humiliation seen https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/napoleon-walks-hr-tightrope-in-uk-call-centre/ or the breathtakingly … Continue Reading
Santa stared with scarcely-concealed loathing at the young barrister elf across the desk from him in the Tribunal room. Sharp suit, shiny shoes and a knot in his nasty nylon tie almost as big as his head. David Beckham had a lot to answer for, Santa thought grimly. “Yes, Mr, er, Claus?” The Employment Judge’s … Continue Reading
Imagine trying to justify your compulsory retirement age on the basis that it represented roughly the point where your employees were performing at their best. Impossible, right? Not so, said the London Central Employment Tribunal last month in White –v- Ministry of Justice. Hearing the claim of a Circuit Judge that his compulsory retirement at … Continue Reading
Do you ever feel that you do not have your audience’s undivided attention? Perhaps it is the body language which gives it away, the distracted glances at the clock, a stifled yawn or the not quite sufficiently surreptitious cleaning of the finger nails. But surely no one has a right to the exclusive focus of … Continue Reading
If your relationship were on the rocks, if you saw the object of your affections drifting away from you, what would you do? One would imagine, possibly even expect, that you would take urgent steps to get things back on track and that you would try desperately to see your other half so that you … Continue Reading
In order to claim unfair dismissal you have to be dismissed. No, really. The EAT in Mr Clutch Auto Centres v Blakemore has overturned a Sheffield Tribunal decision that an employee’s employment was continuing, despite the fact that he had brought an unfair dismissal claim and there was no dispute between the parties that his … Continue Reading
Time in any mediation is often both limited and precious. Once it is underway there is little time for sorting out the preliminaries. As a result, it is customary for there to be contact between each of the parties (and/or their representatives) and the mediator(‘s staff) prior to kick-off. For a judicial mediation arranged through … Continue Reading
So here is Friday’s teaser – let us suppose that an Employment Tribunal has just decided that you have been sexually harassed by your former boss, that he was fixated by your breasts, habitually stared at them and frequently addressed them while in conversation with you. He has also touched you, uninvited and unreciprocated, on … 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
Obviously when you hold a high judicial office in the UK you have to be very measured in the reports you can make about your function – no ranting tweets here about your boss/service-users/colleagues/coffee, thank you, or that’s your gong firmly down the drain. Which makes all the more laudable the very clear disgruntlement discernible … 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
It’s that time of year when we all reflect on the past 12 months and think about what we might want to change and improve. For HR professionals, the lessons can be significant; perhaps Bob in Accounts needs some urgent remedial guidance on what is and is not an appropriate Secret Santa gift? Or maybe … Continue Reading
The law is not an exact science, and employment law among the least of all. The test supposed to be used by the Employment Tribunals to determine the fairness of a dismissal is whether it falls “within the range of reasonable responses”, so potentially allowing for a whole variety of right answers to the basic … Continue Reading
It seems obvious that key principles of contract law could be considered by a Tribunal when evaluating the terms of an employment contract, though this seems to have been up for debate recently in Cleeve Link Ltd v Bryla. Thankfully, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has clarified the position and provided helpful guidance on the scope … Continue Reading
The statistic that approximately 1 in 10 employees in Europe is or has been absent from work due to depression, will come as no surprise to most employers or HR professionals. This statistic takes no account of ‘presenteeism’, where employees who are unwell attend the workplace because they feel they should, but who then perform … Continue Reading
You know that there is something seriously amiss with employment relations in the UK when Acas’ new Guidance on settlement agreements has to run to 83 pages. This is of course on top of its Code of Practice which contains another 11. So that is close to 100 pages dedicated essentially to how to agree … Continue Reading
So what do you do with a Premiership footballer who refuses to wear his club’s strip because he has religious objections to the sponsor plastered across the front? Treat it as a silly diva tantrum or as a legitimate manifestation of his beliefs? Muslim Papiss Cissé has refused to wear Newcastle United’s new strip following … Continue Reading
In the latest episode of this thrilling claim the EAT has upheld a rather hefty costs order against Ms Vaughan. For those of you who may have missed the first couple of episodes, let’s go back to the beginning. Ms Vaughan appealed against the Employment Tribunal’s ruling that 39 hours’ worth of covert recordings of … Continue Reading
