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
So here we go again, another attempt to legislate against workplace bullying. This is not the first – back in 2001 there was a Dignity at Work bill, a fantastically inept piece of drafting crippled alike by internal processes more complicated than the wiring diagram of a battleship and the inevitable (and as it turned … Continue Reading
So following our recent post on proposed new regulations it’s not just the EU which is looking askance at the potential risks of artificial intelligence in recruitment. From across the pond comes news that the US Department of Justice has warned employers to take steps to ensure that the use of AI in recruitment does … Continue Reading
Sexual harassment is absolutely no laughing matter, but it is difficult to suppress a tired smile when reading the government’s Response to its 2019 consultation on harassment in the workplace. This is very heavy on prospective voter-appeal but rather lighter (weightless, basically) on the practicalities. We shall impose a proactive duty on employers to prevent … Continue Reading
The Forstater – v – CGD Europe gender identity case last week has attracted a great deal of coverage for its conclusion that beliefs that gender is fixed at birth and immutable are worthy of respect in a democratic society. Actually, the key point to the case in practical terms is something else entirely, a … Continue Reading
As soon as your employee announces that he is suffering from a mental health condition, there is a temptation on the part of both employer and employee to assume that he is thereby necessarily disabled under the Equality Act and so that with immediate effect he is entitled to all the protections available under it. … Continue Reading
Much noise in the press last week about the decision of the Norwich Employment Tribunal that veganism is a philosophical belief protected under The Equality Act, so the obvious question is what this all means in practice. First, less than it looks. The decision applies to “ethical veganism” only, not a regime adopted on fashion … Continue Reading
In my post last week, I considered the extent of an employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate an employee whose difficult workplace attitude is alleged to have its origins in a disability. However, there is another angle to this question which the employer must also bear in mind.… Continue Reading
So said German lithographer Herm Albright in a rare moment’s cynicism, but of course if you really want to get on your colleagues’ nerves, a hostile or negative attitude is far more to be commended. So here is a question arising from a matter on which we were recently instructed. Client’s employee has a persistently … Continue Reading
Back in 2017 we posted a piece about the difference between disability and unhappiness at work. In that case, Mr Herry had been off work for over a year but still failed to establish that he was disabled. In large part this was because his absence was felt not to be the result of an … Continue Reading
If you want to push the concept of protection for philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010 way beyond its sensible limit, here is just the case for you.… Continue Reading
To its critics positive discrimination is a set of benefits and privileges reserved for minorities. BAME inclusion events and initiatives designed to encourage BAME job applicants are frequently found in the firing line. It’s a pretty dynamite topic which evokes feelings of victimisation, unfairness and inequity and can stunt enthusiasm for diversity in the workforce.… Continue Reading
Male manager repeatedly massages shoulders of seated female subordinate in open office causing her distress and embarrassment, claims he is doing so to “encourage her” and then gives evidence denying it which the Tribunal does not swallow for a second. Sexual harassment? Quick, yes or no?… Continue Reading
For the second in our series on sexual harassment in the workplace, we look at how the law as it currently stands protects individuals from sexual harassment by third parties such as visitors and customers.… Continue Reading
In the lead-up to the close of the Government’s consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace we will be running a series of blogs on the issue, starting with a look at existing legislation, how it works and how it holds employers accountable for sexual harassment in the workplace.… Continue Reading
You are hearing the appeal of an employee with less than two years’ service dismissed on the grounds of admitted poor conduct. What can possibly go wrong? Certainly not the seeming afterthought on the employee’s part, not mentioned at the dismissal stage, that her conduct might in part be explained by a depressive condition of … Continue Reading
Ostensibly the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s decision in Bakkali –v- Greater Manchester Buses last week is a faintly technical one about how the required connection with a personal characteristic protected under the Equality Act differs between direct discrimination and harassment.… Continue Reading
Back in June 2016, I wrote a piece on the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s decision in Carreras -v- UFPR concerning the extent to which an employer’s expectations can amount to a provision, criterion or practice (PCP) for disability discrimination purposes (specifically, as a trigger for the obligation to make reasonable adjustments). That post is here https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/when-overtime-goes-bad-employers-duties-to-clarify-expectations-for-disabled-staff/.… Continue Reading
It is comforting to know that the medical world is constantly developing and striving to improve diagnoses, treatments and understanding of health problems, particularly in the sphere of mental health. The world is becoming more and more aware of the reality of mental health and the significant issues it can cause both within and outside … Continue Reading
If because of your disability you are absent from work and if because of that absence your employer discovers that it doesn’t actually need you, does your resulting redundancy arise from your disability? This is important because Section 15 Equality Act 2010 says that if A treats B unfavourably “because of something arising in consequence … Continue Reading
So here they are, out yesterday, a strange parallel universe where months last 30.44 days and years 365.25, and where you don’t include pay for periods of leave except when you do. In past blogs here we have criticised Government Regulations and statutory Guidance as too vague, leaving employers unclear whether they are caught by … 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
“What the Court clearly failed to do was to say how, in today’s politically correct world, any Christian can even enter a conversation with a fellow employee on the subject of religion and not potentially later end up in an Employment Tribunal”. These are words of Victoria Wasteney on BBC News Online last week following … Continue Reading
