Article Category: Employment Law & HR – Insight & Opinion

Our requirements for a particular role have changed and we need someone with different qualifications. Can I redeploy the employee in that role to another site or make them redundant if they refuse?  This is potentially a redundancy situation; the employer’s need for a particular skill set has changed and the need for the kind… Read more »

The current position is that if an employee is absent due to ill health reasons before and then during what was pre-booked annual leave, they should, as far as the Working Time Directive is concerned, have the right to reschedule the holiday for a later date. If that employee remains off sick until the end… Read more »

The number of people making claims for disability discrimination in the Employment Tribunal has soared by 37% compared to last year. With Employment Tribunal claims in general rising only 4% that means the number of disability discrimination claims has risen more than eight times faster than the growth of all tribunal claims. Why? What’s caused… Read more »

In a recent Court of Appeal case, an employee who worked as a cashier in a wine wholesale business for over 10 years was dismissed on the day the business was due to transfer to new ownership. The reason for dismissal, as stated in the dismissal letter, was that company was ceasing to trade due… Read more »

In the recent case of Hein v Holzkamm GmbH and Co KG, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) indicated that voluntary overtime should not be factored into holiday pay. The ECJ stated ‘given its exceptional and unforeseeable nature, remuneration received for overtime does not, in principle, form part of remuneration’. This decision now casts doubt… Read more »

Sickness absence can be extremely expensive, potentially disruptive and can have a significant impact on the productivity and welfare of colleagues due to increased workloads. A good Occupational Health (“OH”) specialist can be the key for the effective absence management to the benefit of the employer and, often the employee. What should you expect from… Read more »

The recent Employment Tribunal case, Mrs N Town v The Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, has raised questions amongst employers on the effects of changing a person’s role when they are pregnant, ill or injured and how this might result in discrimination claims when decisions are not considered carefully or justified. The background… Read more »

In November 2016, the government launched a review of employment practices. The main purpose was to consider the implications of new models of working, including those used in the GIG economy, on the rights and responsibilities of workers, as well as on employer freedoms and obligations. For this, an independent review was undertaken and published… Read more »

Jess Varnish, winner of a gold medal at the 2011 European Championships, has lodged an appeal against her employment status loss at Manchester Employment Tribunal against British Cycling and UK Sport. What is Varnish’s employment status? In December 2018, after several weeks of deliberation, the Manchester Employment Tribunal ruled the former British cyclist was neither… Read more »

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) are frequently used to protect confidential information being revealed either publically or, in the commercial sense, to a competitor. These agreements, between employer and employee, will stipulate what information must remain confidential and under what, if any, circumstances the information can be used or disclosed. Are Non-Disclosure Agreements a new phenomenon? Although… Read more »