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
French law has traditionally provided that absences due to non-occupational illness are not taken into account when determining the amount of paid leave accrued, as they do not constitute a period of actual work. Periods of absence due to an occupational accident or illness lasting more than one uninterrupted year are not taken into account … Continue Reading
Yesterday in R (on the application of ASLEF and ors) v Secretary of State for Business and Trade the High Court quashed the government’s controversial legislation which repealed the prohibition placed upon employment agencies from supplying temporary workers to businesses in order to backfill labour shortages caused by employees participating in industrial action. The proceedings … Continue Reading
So you have finally introduced a no-jab, no entry policy in your workplace and now the government seems intent on pulling the rug on the whole thing by agreeing that even workers with some of the UK’s most vulnerable people don’t need to be vaccinated after all. If they don’t need the jab, on what … Continue Reading
At the end of our What Next webinar this week I announced boldly that either we had had no questions from the floor or I had done something hideous to the IT and lost them. With depressing predictability it was the latter, sorry. In fact we got a good score of questions across a wide range … Continue Reading
So what price now, your long-planned initiative for returning your workforce to the office? How much of your RTO plan is still standing among the smoking wreckage of the Government’s message only two months ago that employees should “start to go back to work now” if they can? What does Michael Gove mean by the … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, Mr Justice Snowden gave the first judgment on the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme [here]. Rather than bask in the Bank Holiday sunshine digging into his Easter eggs, he sought to bring clarity to some of the more murky aspects of the scheme – specifically, how the Scheme operates when the employer … Continue Reading
How many letters have you written suspending an employee facing some form of disciplinary enquiry or dismissal, assuring him earnestly that it is a neutral act and in no way presumes any guilt?… Continue Reading
The deadline for responses to the BIS call for evidence in relation to the use of restrictive covenants expires on 19 July. The Call contains no hard evidence at all to support any suggestion that covenants stifle start-ups. It admits that this is only an assumption, though even those are normally based on something. It … Continue Reading
Gibbs -v- Leeds United Football Club concerned the former Assistant Manager of the Club who took his £330,000 constructive dismissal claim to the High Court so as to sidestep the compensation ceiling in the Employment Tribunal. Having fairly easily established the fundamental breach of contract necessary to win his claim against Leeds, Mr Gibbs then … Continue Reading
Here is a question for you – do you know what an agronomist is? Anybody? Well, he/she applies the science and technology of producing and using plants for such purposes as food, fuel, and soil management. Well done if you got that. If not, you heard it first at the Employment Law Worldview blog. I … Continue Reading
Some generally reassuring guidance for employers from the Court of Appeal this month concerning the level of certainty required to legitimise the starting of formal disciplinary proceedings. Dr Mian worked at Coventry University when accused of complicity in the provision of falsely favourable references for a former colleague. A preliminary investigation was carried out by … Continue Reading
A strong message to employers from the Court of Appeal this week to check your restrictive covenants, but this time to do it properly. None of that just casting an idle eye over the relevant page of your executive’s contracts – description of territory, tick; vague reference to competition, tick; not wholly fanciful restraint periods, … Continue Reading
Sometimes it must be tough being a High Court Judge, especially where you have to separate your distaste for a party’s ethics from the actual legal merits of his case. So hats off to Mrs Justice Simler for combining in Croesus Financial Services Limited –v- Bradshaw & Bradshaw last week a fairly gleeful trashing of … Continue Reading
Sad to report the passing of PVYW –v- Comcare which came to a rather limp end for the Claimant in the Australian High Court this week. In a gift to legal writers and speakers everywhere, almost regardless of its relevance to their actual subject, the Federal Court concluded last year that Ms W was entitled … 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
Ever agonised about just how far you should go when responding to a reference request? Full disclosure and get it off your chest or go for the quiet life and issue yet another bland and useless statement of employment dates and job title? Employers providing a reference owe a duty of care both to the … Continue Reading
