Archive for the: Employment category

Currently all European Union (“EU”) nationals can live and work in the UK under the Union’s rules regarding free-movement of people. However, post-Brexit plans announced by Theresa May at the Conservative Party Conference today indicate this will all change once the UK leaves the EU.

The proposals would mean that applicants from any country (including those within the EU) will have to meet certain requirements, such as a salary threshold. This system would therefore be geared in favour of more highly skilled workers, and not just based on their country of origin.

Successful applicants would also still be entitled to bring their...

Theresa May has announced planned legislative action aimed at stopping high street chains deducting up to 10% from tips received by their staff. Theresa May said of the Government’s plans:

“We will introduce tough new legislation to ensure that workers get to keep all of their tips - banning employers from making any deductions. It's another way we are building an economy that works for everyone."

The current position

The stance restaurants take towards staff tips differs greatly, with some keeping all the tips, some taking a percentage, and some allowing their staff to keep all tips earned. There are also differences...

Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill received Royal Assent:

The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill (the Bill) introduced a new entitlement for parents to take leave following the death of their child. The proposals set out in the Bill were approved by Parliament on 13 September 2018, making the Bill now the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 (the PBA 2018). This is the first piece of UK legislation that addresses this issue, aiming to support those who are affected by the tragedy of losing a child, and is expected to come into force from 2020.

We spend much of our time explaining to employers that they need to consult with their teams over a number of issues. ACAS gives some clarity regarding the overview of what it means, but once you have read their excellent advice, what you really want to know is how to do it.

We can all agree that “Employee communications and consultation are essentially about involving and developing people in an organisation. Employees will be able to perform at their best if they know their duties, obligations and rights and have an opportunity to make their views known to management on issues...

A case in Scotland (Ms Mandy Davies v Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service) held that menopause could be considered a disability under s.15 of the Equality Act; whereby a person is treated unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of the disabled person’s disability and the employer cannot show that the treatment is a proportionate means of reaching a legitimate aim.

In this particular case, the unfavourable treatment was dismissal. In brief, the claimant had some medication that she thought had been in the water jug she was drinking from and the water was then given to two men in the...

We are increasingly being asked this by Clients following the introduction of the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. The general position is that if you are processing personal information as a data controller then you need to pay the data protection fee to the ICO.

The amount that you are required to pay will depend on a number of factors such as your number of staff and annual turnover. For most organisations the fee is either £40 or £60. The highest level of fee is £2,900.

The ICO have produced a self assessment tool which will assist you in establishing whether...

As you can imagine, we deal a lot with issues where the employer has “reached the end of their tether” in managing a problem like capability.  Sometimes we are involved throughout a process, which will either lead to an improvement in performance or potentially dismissal.  Others however, we are called in at the latter stages to advise on the capability procedure at the point at which dismissal is contemplated.  Often, the reluctance of a manger to have the open and frank discussion at the outset, leads to a situation whereby the individual may struggle to accept any failings in their...

Flowers and Others v East of England Ambulance Trust: NHS Contractual Terms Require Non-Guaranteed and Voluntary Overtime to be Included in Holiday Pay Calculations

This case arose from the Claimant employees, employed by the Trust in a range of roles concerning the provision of ambulance services, contending that the calculation of their holiday pay should take account of both non-guaranteed overtime and voluntary overtime.

The Employment Tribunal (“ET”) allowed the contractual claims in respect of non-guaranteed overtime, but dismissed the claims in respect of voluntary overtime, with the ET accepting the Trust’s argument that voluntary overtime was in a different category....

In Patel v Folkestone Nursing Home Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 1689 the Court of Appeal has held that there was no dismissal where a contractual disciplinary appeal was successful.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal that there was no dismissal where an employee who, following his appeal under a contractual disciplinary procedure, was told that the decision to dismiss him had been revoked. This was despite the appeal only addressing one of the two disciplinary allegations that had resulted in his dismissal.

The Claimant was a care assistant, dismissed over two charges of misconduct. He appealed under a...