Informed choice – choosing English law relevant to jurisdiction
In The British Council v Jeffery and Green v SIG Trading Ltd the Court of Appeal confirmed that choosing English law to govern an employment contract is a significant factor when deciding whether a tribunal has jurisdiction to hear a claim from an employee based overseas.
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Fair enough – fair investigations and gross negligence as conduct issue
There have been two recent EAT decisions about procedural fairness and dismissal. Hargreaves v Governing Body of Manchester Grammar School considered a situation where some witness statements were withheld from a disciplinary panel and Philander v Leonard Cheshire Disability a decision to treat a gross negligence situation as a conduct instead of a capability issue. Both dismissals were fair.
Tightening the net – IR35 in private sector to follow public sector approach
The Autumn budget confirmed the government's decision to bring the off-payroll rules (commonly known as IR35) for large and medium companies in the private sector in line with those in the public sector. Broadly, this means that from April 2020 the end user will be responsible for deducting tax and NICs at source in some cases, even if a contractor is engaged through a personal service company.
