Employment and HR

• Abuse of process: robust case management guidance from Court of Appeal

• In Stuart v Linde and others [2008] EWCA Civ 2 , the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal against a decision striking out a claim on the ground that it was an abuse of process. The issue in the case was whether it was an abuse of process to bring a second...

• Age Discrimination - Be Prepared

• There are currently 20 million people aged 50 and over in the UK and the figure is expected to reach 27 million by 2030. On 1 October 2006, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations came into effect. This legislation makes it unlawful to discriminate on...

• Agency workers and employment status.

• Agency workers and employment status.

• Agency workers: sham deal-still employees of agency despite lack of control

• Polish agency workers protected.

• Bad weather causes absenteeism to drop

• Absenteeism

• Bilateral waiver of without prejudice discussions allows admissible evidence

• Without prejudice protection and privilege may be waived.

• Bloomberg mum wins discrimination settlement

• City mum sues Bloomberg for sexual discrimination As reported by The Telegraph mum s the word for Janine Funsch who won an out of court settlement against Bloomberg, the financial information service. A gagging order prevents her disclosing the...

• Can We Stop Them ?

• Restrictive covenants (clauses which are normally found in contracts of employment and partnership agreements, which restrict the right of a person to compete with his or her firm) have always been a difficult area of law. The courts are able to strike...

• Changes to Family Friendly Legislation

• The Work and Families Act introduces measures intended to give more choice to families attempting to balance work and caring responsibilities. It imposes significant new obligations on employers. The period of statutory maternity pay has been...

• Changes to Statutory Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

• The Government is keen to promote alternative ways of settling workplace disputes. Since October 2004, employers and employees have been required to follow statutory minimum procedures to make sure that disputes are discussed at work. Not only has this...

• Changing terms and conditions

• Changing terms and conditions of employment-unilateral change by council employer of benefits found to be breach of contract In Nicholas Hugh Parry Weatherill and others v Birmingham City Council council employees sued...

• Claimant whose ET1 was presented 88 seconds too late applies for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal

• In Beasley v National Grid [2008] EWCA Civ 50 Wall LJ held that a three-judge Court of Appeal should consider an employee's application for leave to appeal against the finding of a tribunal chairman, that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear...

• Companies not ready for age discrimination laws

• The Lawyer magazine has reported that over 40% of employers are unprepared for the the new age discrimination training that comes into effect 1 October. HR Managers have not obtained training as they should...

• Compromise Agreements - Tax Position Clarified

• A compromise agreement is an agreement made between an employer and an employee who is having their contract of employment terminated. It sets out the terms under which the termination will take place and contains a provision that the employee will receive a...

• Compromise agreements-conditional payment terms allowed for clawback

• Compromise agreements-conditional payment terms allowed for clawback

• Confidential information heading out the door

• Confidential information loss.

• Confidential information heading out the door

• Confidential information loss.

• Court of Appeal approves EAT decision in James v London Borough of Greenwich

• Court of Appeal approves EAT decision in James v London Borough of Greenwich

• Damages for breach of restrictive covenant

• Restrictive covenant damages for employer when employee breaches contract

• Database belongs to sales agent

• Database rights beolng to agents

• Director not liable for procuring breach of contract

• Director not personally liable for company wrong

• Disability discrimination and sick leave

• disability sick leave

• Discrimination in goods and services

• Discrimination in providing goods, services and facilities-loophole to be closed. There are many grey areas that await clarification at present and it is hoped that the new legislation will close these loopholes. However although the...

• Does the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 apply to paper records?

• Data protection for paper records.

• EEF seeks medical treatments at business parks

• Btter therapy brings quicker return to work.

• Email insult was unfair so sacking was partly justified

• Email insult results in dismissal

• Employee Fraud

• Fraud is estimated to cost the UK economy between 13billion and 16billion a year and fraud by employees accounts for 60 per cent of all frauds committed against businesses. In a study by Leicester University, over seventy per cent of employees admitted they...

• Employer vicariously liable in negligence for bullying,harassment and victimisation damages.

• Bullying and harassment

• Employment Bill 2007

• Employment Bill

• Equal pay-successor cannot be used as comparator

• Equal pay-successor cannot be used as comparator

• Equal pay: indirect discrimination for anti-social hours bonus

• Equal pay for unsocial hours by WPC's.

• Expired Warning In ET claims

• Expired warning can be taken into account when deciding whether to dismiss

• False Claims on a CV - What to Do

• According to research by the Risk Advisory Group, more than half of CVs submitted by job applicants contain lies or inaccuracies. These range from gaps in employment history to false claims regarding qualifications and failure to mention fraud committed...

• Flexible working rights extended

• Flexible working rights extended

• Fuel Rates Down

• HMRC announced on 29 Jan that the rates payable for car fuel (where a mileage rate is paid to company car users for business travel) was to be reduced from 1 February 2007. The mileage rates are payable when an employee uses a company car for...

• GLA revokes record number of gangmasters' licences

• The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) , which was set up in 2005 to protect the rights of workers in various industries, including agriculture and horticulture, has reported that in the first quarter of the 2008-2009 financial year, it has...

• High Court continues interim injunction in customer list case

• High Court continues interim injunction in customer list case

• High Court rules ex-employees infringed database right by copying electronic files

• ex-employees who copied and retained various documents belonging to their ex-employer, such as customer contact details and sales figures

• Home Office action on illegal working

• Home Office announces new plans on immigration and illegal working.

• IR35 update

• IR35 Dragonfly decision

• Immigration and the Points-Based System

• Under the Points Based System (PBS) for immigration most people applying to come to or remain in the UK to work or study who are not nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss nationals will require a certificate of sponsorship from a licensed...

• In Brief: ACAS E-learning Guides

• The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) now has ten electronic learning guides available on its website. The topics are bullying and harassment; managing absence in the workplace; handling redundancy; discipline and...

• Inappropriate interview questions

• Poor interviewing brings law claims to businesses.

• Increase in statutory sick pay and statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay from April 2008

• Increase in statutory sick pay and statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay from April 2008

• Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations

• The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004

• Intel negligent in causing depression illness

• Intel negligent for causing stress.

• Lying in your CV

• Lying in your CV brings legal dangers.

• M&S Whisleblower Dismissal - Who is Right?

• In early September Marks Spencer (M S) dismissed an employee who had disclosed the company's redundancy plans to The Times two weeks earlier. The employee's union, the GMB, confirmed that the man had been dismissed for gross misconduct with a minimal...

• Madonna, Malawi and adoption

• Madonna and adoption laws

• Management order not to wear the veil while teaching is not discriminatory

• Making the news of late has been the veil and not only by way of Jack Straw s comments which were sensationalised by the media. Widely reported was Azmi v Kirklees Metropolitan Council, in which the Council was exonerated of direct and...

• Mandatory retirement age

• Heyday legal challenge to forced retirement age.

• Maternity and paternity pay increases

• HMRC has announced the increase to several child-related benefits has been delayed. Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and Statutory Adoption Pay were to increase to 52 weeks for all babies due on or after April 2009 but this now has been...

• Maternity leave: sick pay

• Maternity leave: sick pay

• Muslim radiographer dismissed for failing to comply with NHS dress code

• A Muslim radiographer has been dismissed from an NHS hospital after refusing to comply with a new policy requiring staff to have their arms bare below the elbow. The policy was introduced in January in an effort to combat the spread of superbugs such as...

• New Minimum Wage Rates Announced

• New minimum wages

• New Tribunal Limits

• The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2006, which details the annual inflation-linked increase in limits on the amounts which can be awarded by employment tribunals, was made on 14 November 2006 and applies where the appropriate date falls on or...

• New illegal immigration law

• Illegal immigrant working guidance.

• Newsreader set to claim age discrimination against Channel Five

• Newsreader set to claim age discrimination against Channel Five

• Non-compete clause can be enforceable

• Non-compete clause can be enforceable

• Non-compete clause is reasonable court concludes

• Reasonable restrictive covenant clause prevents MD working for competitor.

• Officer wins claim for unpaid salary

• RAF officer wins claim for unpaid salary

• Officer wins claim for unpaid salary

• RAF officer wins claim for unpaid salary

• One in five bullied at work

• Bullying at work is rampant says report.

• Outsourcing Outcasts in India

• Outsourcing outcasts in India.

• Partnerships and the new age discrimination laws

• Partnerships and age discrimination

• Pension Scheme Deficits Action Plan

• In accordance with the Pensions Act 2004 all defined benefit schemes must have regular actuarial valuations to ensure that the scheme meets the Statutory Funding Objective (SFO). To ensure SFO compliance, the scheme trustees and managers must...

• Pension Schemes and Age Discrimination

• The parts of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 that apply to pension schemes came into force on 1 December 2006. The Regulations prohibit age-related discrimination and harassment, allowing discriminatory treatment only when it can be...

• Protection of Harassment Act 1997 makes employers vicariously liable for harassment acts of employees

• Protection Of Harassment Act

• REC launches Agency Work Commission

• REC launches Agency Work Commission

• Recruitment - Preventing Illegal Working Without Discrimination

• Hardly a day goes by without there being some mention of illegal immigration in the news. The number of people discovered working here unlawfully has risen sharply in recent years. There has been much talk of the possible introduction of a national...

• Redundancy payments amended

• redundancy changed due to age discrimination

• Report finds number of women in certain senior roles in decline

• Report finds number of women in certain senior roles in decline

• Smoking Ban ends the office smoking room.

• Smoking ban set for 2007 in England and Wales.

• Solicitor seeks to challenge law firm on alleged ageism

• Solicitor seeks to challenge law firm on alleged ageism

• Staff Handbook forms part of the employment agreement

• staff handbook

• Statutory Maternity, Adoption and Paternity Pay Rates

• The standard weekly rate of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay increased from 112.75 to 117.18 from 6 April 2008. The daily rate is therefore 16.74 exactly. From 6...

• Stopping the vexatious employment litigant

• unfair employment law claims

• TUPE-only sham agreement can pierce the corporate veil

• Veils of a different sort have been in the news lately re Jack Straw and others. In the corporate world courts can only remove a business s limited status-known as lifting the veil-in very limited circumstances. ...

• TUPE: employee not assigned to the part of the undertaking transferred

• TUPE: employee not assigned to the part of the undertaking transferred

• Tackling Work-Related Stress

• Research commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) indicates that about half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is affecting their health. In addition, up to five million people feel very or ...

• Taxation of termination payments in employment disputes

• Payment In Lieu Of Notice-tax

• The "right" to work from home

• Rights of homeworkers

• The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006

• Owners and managers of commercial premises, employers whose workers use, install, remove, maintain or demolish premises that may contain asbestos and businesses providing construction or building services are all affected by the Control of Asbestos...

• The Occupational Pension Schemes (Consultation by Employers and Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2006

• pension scheme consultation

• The dangers of online portrayals

• MySpace and other online dangers for job candidates.

• Tom Cruise beats cybersquatter for TomCruise.com

• Tom Cruise beats cybersquatter

• Transfer could be reason for dismissal even if potential buyer not yet identified

• Transfer could be reason for dismissal even if potential buyer not yet identified

• Tribunal to rule on application of TUPE to transfer of client accounts between law firms

• Tribunal to rule on application of TUPE to transfer of client accounts between law firms

• Unfair Dismissal and Illegality

• It is an established principle of law that illegal contracts are unenforceable. In a recent case, the Sheffield Employment Tribunal (ET) refused to allow a claim for unfair dismissal brought by a woman who had been employed for three years as a chef in a Thai...

• When Overtime Can Mean More Pension Entitlement

• Employers who are relying on the fact that overtime is not taken into account when assessing the pension entitlement of their employees should check the implications of a recent Court of Appeal case. The case involved a caretaker employed by Newham Borough...