Article Category: Employment Law & HR – Insight & Opinion

Restrictive covenants are commonly incorporated into employment contracts in order to restrict a former employee’s actions post-termination and to protect the company’s legitimate business interests. Recently, the Supreme Court considered restrictive covenants that appeared to be wider than was reasonable and therefore potentially unenforceable. The question to be determined was whether words could be severed… Read more »

Since October 2011, under the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), temporary agency workers are entitled to the same basic working conditions after working for a period of 12 weeks, as if they have been employed directly by the hirer. In a recent case (London Underground Ltd (LUL) v Amissah), LUL were found liable for a breach… Read more »

In May 2018, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) reported that international professional services company, Capita, paid its female employees enhanced maternity pay – however the same was not offered on the rates of pay for paternity or shared parental leave (SPL). The EAT held that this was not discriminatory, however the case was subsequently sent… Read more »

Agricultural Workers’ rights and pay in the agricultural sector can often leave many employers confused and unaware of the complex provisions. Keeping up to date with employment legislation can be vital to ensure you are not caught out. Particularly when the government typically introduces new legislation each spring. What are Agricultural workers’ rights? Firstly, the… Read more »

It has been well publicised of late how important it is for employers to undertake a fair, reasonable and impartial investigation process. The recent case of the Governing Body of Tywyn Primary School v Aplin emphasises this, bringing to light constructive dismissal and possible discrimination during their disciplinary investigation process. What happened? An openly-gay headteacher,… Read more »

Mr Lone was dismissed for gross misconduct from his position following a complaint made by a female colleague. The colleague complained of unwanted messages and emails sent by the Claimant. Following the dismissal, a professional conduct panel for the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) recommended to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order be put… Read more »

When conducting a disciplinary investigation, it will often be necessary to speak to other employees to obtain evidence and gather witness statements. However, some employees may wish to submit an anonymous statement or be reluctant to give out any information altogether. If the matter proceeds to a formal disciplinary hearing, all evidence considered including any… Read more »

A collapsing Oldham law firm, Broadway Legal Limited trading as Broadway Solicitors, who made redundancy announcements to its staff by text message have been ordered by an Employment Tribunal to make a protective award of 90 days’ pay to one of its employees.  What happened in the redundancy case? The Claimant, Mr Evans, brought a… Read more »

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 »