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Employment Appeal Tribunal confirms that an employer’s attempt to bypass collective bargaining was unlawful
10 January 2018A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has confirmed that offers made directly by an employer to its employees risk amounting to unlawful attempts to bypass collective bargaining contrary to s145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. This was a costly exercise for the employer as they were ordered to pay penalties of more than £400,000.
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The year in employment law
08 January 2018The UK’s political landscape continues to be dominated by the shock 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union. Following a surprise General Election in June 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May unexpectedly lost her parliamentary majority amid deep divisions about how the UK should “Brexit”. Against that backdrop, the Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU began in 2017 and will continue into 2018. This has meant that, as with many other areas, employment policy reform has taken something of a backseat. Nevertheless, employment law continues to change at pace.
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Discrimination based on perceived disability is unlawful
29 December 2017The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has confirmed that it is unlawful to discriminate against an employee because of a perceived disability, even where that employee is not actually disabled under the relevant legal test.
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Enforcement of gender pay gap reporting – the EHRC gets involved
21 December 2017The Equality and Human Rights Commission (‘EHRC’) has published a consultation on its plans for enforcing the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations (‘GPG Regulations’).
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Rogue employees and no-fault liability
14 December 2017A recent High Court judgment has illustrated how employers can potentially be held liable for wrongful disclosure of personal data by their employees.
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Avoiding the Hedonic Treadmill: designing a sustainable employee engagement strategy
14 December 2017The concept of the “Hedonic Treadmill” is well established amongst psychologists, but what lessons can HR draw from it in relation to improving employee engagement and productivity?
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Ask About... Retail, Fashion & Hospitality
12 December 2017Many of our clients in the retail, fashion and hospitality sector face similar HR issues. Each month one of the members of our team will identify an issue, ask how you would deal with it and provide our advice. This month we asked Laura...
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Chaos at the Christmas party - how to avoid an HR headache
08 December 2017The festive season is almost upon us, bringing with it the long-awaited office Christmas party - a chance for colleagues to let their hair down and enjoy themselves in a relaxed setting.
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The legal sector and #metoo – clarification from the Law Society
07 December 2017The Law Society has provided some important clarification in relation to the recent joint statement made by its presidents on sexual harassment in the legal profession.
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Workers denied paid holiday can carry over rights until termination
30 November 2017The European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has ruled that where workers are not granted paid annual leave to which they are entitled under the EU Working Time Directive (“WTD”), they must be able to carry over and accumulate those holiday rights from year to year and be compensated for them on termination of employment
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The legal sector and #metoo
29 November 2017Sexual harassment is clearly big news at the moment. Not, of course, because it is a new phenomenon, but because it seems that the allegations swirling around numerous big Hollywood names have opened the floodgates and made it OK to say #metoo.
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Tax on termination - employer NICs charges delayed
23 November 2017Some good news for employers was confirmed in the Chancellor’s autumn Budget.
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Employment status review announced in response to Taylor report
23 November 2017In the autumn Budget, the Government has indicated for the first time how it intends to respond to the recommendations made by Matthew Taylor in his review of modern working practices.
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Extending ‘off-payroll’ worker reforms to the private sector
23 November 2017The Chancellor announced in the autumn Budget that there will be a consultation in 2018 to tackle non-compliance with IR35 rules in the private sector.
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Full Employment Tribunal fees refunds scheme now open
16 November 2017After a brief pilot scheme, the full scheme for refunding Employment Tribunal (“ET”) fees is now open for use by both claimants and respondents.
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Deliveroo defends union recognition application by demonstrating its riders are genuinely self-employed
15 November 2017The Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC”) has rejected an application from the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (“IWGB”) for collective bargaining rights in respect of Deliveroo riders, in a case in which Lewis Silkin acted for Deliveroo.
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New ACAS guidance on mental health in the workplace
25 October 2017Mental illness costs employers in the UK a lot of money – up to £30 billion each year in lost production, absence and recruitment costs according to Acas, which has recently published a guide to “promoting positive mental health in the workplace”.
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Employment Tribunal fees - refunds begin
24 October 2017After an unexpectedly lengthy wait, the Government has launched the first stage of its scheme for refunding Employment Tribunal (“ET”) fees following the Supreme Court’s decision that the fees system was unlawful.
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Progress on the Parental Bereavement Bill
23 October 2017The purpose of the proposed Parental Bereavement (Pay and Leave) Bill (“the Bill”) is to provide a statutory right to paid leave for employed parents who suffer the loss of a child. Previous attempts to introduce paid leave in these circumstances over the past few years have been unsuccessful. However, this Bill - introduced into Parliament in July - has the support of the Government and is likely to become law.
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International data transfers - are model clauses now under threat?
05 October 2017Many of you will remember Max Schrems, the Austrian law student who in 2015 successfully brought a case to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) that resulted in the “safe harbor” - the agreement that allowed the transfer of EU citizens’ data to the US - being declared invalid.