In Tesco Stores Ltd v USDAW the UK Supreme Court has reinstated an injunction stopping Tesco from dismissing and re-engaging employees on new terms to remove their contractual pay protection. The circumstances in which the...more
In Cairns v The Royal Mail Group Ltd, the UK EAT held that the possibility of delaying a disabled employee’s dismissal pending a reorganisation was relevant to whether his dismissal was justified. Although the employee was...more
In the usual rush before the summer holidays, July was a bumper month for employment lawyers and HR practitioners, with the excitement of the King’s Speech, draft guidance from the EHRC on the duty to prevent sexual...more
Alongside the constant stream of election related news, there were two EAT decisions in June, dealing with “pool of one” redundancies and ill-health dismissals, which will be of interest. In future, there will be further...more
The “Delivering a New Deal for Working People” policy agenda (the New Deal) has far-reaching implications for employers if the Labour Party forms the next UK government. The Labour manifesto confirms that it would implement...more
April was a smorgasbord of developments, with a UK Supreme Court case on detriments and industrial action and two EAT decisions on international jurisdiction. In Parliament, another family-friendly bill is proceeding with...more
As part of its “Smarter regulation to grow the economy” initiative, the UK government is consulting on further changes to TUPE. These include making it clear that TUPE applies to employees, not the wider category of workers,...more
April was a smorgasbord of developments, with a UK Supreme Court case on detriments and industrial action and two EAT decisions on international jurisdiction. In Parliament, another family-friendly bill is proceeding with...more
In March the government confirmed that changes to paternity leave, additional redundancy protection for pregnant employees and new parents and the right to carer’s leave will come into force in April as planned. We’re...more
An employee is protected against being dismissed or subjected to a detriment because they took or sought to take parental leave. The issue for the UK EAT in Hilton Foods Solutions Ltd v Wright was whether an employee had...more
Changing employment terms by dismissing and re-engaging employees has become increasingly controversial. The government does not want to make so-called “fire and re-hire” illegal, but it also wants employers to view the...more
In the run-up to Christmas, the government confirmed how carer’s leave and new protection against redundancy for pregnant employees and new parents will work. It announced changes to paternity leave in January and said that...more
Employers have to make reasonable adjustments if they apply a provision, criterion or practice that puts someone with a disability at a particular disadvantage. The duty only applies if the employer knows or could reasonably...more
The UK government has announced changes to employment law from 1 January 2024. It is branding some of the reforms, notably in relation to holiday and record keeping requirements, as a post-Brexit opportunity to remove...more
After a fairly quiet summer period, there were developments on several fronts in October. The new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment became law, although is not yet in force. The Supreme Court...more
Parliament returned from its summer recess in September, allowing proposals on preventing sexual harassment to progress and the right to request a more predictable contract to become law. Angela Rayner’s speech to the TUC...more
We typically expect employment law reform to move slowly during the summer holiday period, but it seems that progress has been possible this year (perhaps without the distraction of consistently good weather in the UK). In...more
In Ponticelli Ltd v Gallagher, the Court of Session in Scotland decided that a share incentive plan transferred under TUPE. Even though the employee’s right to participate was not contained in his contract of employment, it...more
The UK ICO has provided guidance for employers on responding to employee subject access requests. Although much of the content reflects existing guidance, it deals specifically with issues such as requests made in the context...more
The government has announced that it will not repeal most retained EU law at the end of the year as originally planned. However, it is planning to use Brexit-related freedoms to amend some aspects of the Working Time...more
The Equality Act permits some forms of positive action to address disadvantage, different needs or low participation rates amongst groups sharing a protected characteristic. The UK government has published new guidance to...more
In March 2022, the UK government confirmed that it would not require employers to report their ethnicity pay gaps because it was unwilling to impose new business burdens. However, it wanted to encourage reporting and...more
In March 2021, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced that it would review the UK’s whistleblowing framework but did not give a timescale for the exercise. BEIS’ successor, the Department...more
The UK government has responded to last year’s consultation on making flexible working the default. The response confirms that the right to request flexible working will be available to all employees, regardless of their...more
In Hilaire v Luton Borough Council, the UK EAT found that it was not a reasonable adjustment simply to slot a disabled employee into a new organisational structure as part of a redundancy exercise. Although this would have...more