Often seen as a protective measure, suspension is primarily used by employers to carry out investigations into allegations of misconduct in instances where the employee’s continued presence may impede those investigations or pose a risk to the interests of the business, its customers or other employees.  Suspension can also give the employer “breathing space” to […]

On 26 July 2017 the Government announced that it had temporarily suspended enforcement activity and that it was officially waiving historic financial penalties owed by employers who have underpaid their workers for overnight sleep-in shifts before this date.  It has also prevented HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) from pursuing social care charities over any historical […]

The London Employment Tribunal recently decided that drivers working for the taxi hailing app Uber fell fully within the definition of a ‘worker’ for purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996. They dismissed as ‘faintly ridiculous’ Uber’s assertion that the drivers were self-employed contractors. UK employment law provides for different levels of protection, depending on […]

Research published this week by the conciliation service, Acas, suggests that some UK employers’ attitudes towards people with tattoos are becoming outdated – and those employers are missing out on talent. In recent years tattoos have broken into the mainstream and become much more common. A 2015 YouGov poll suggested that young people in the […]

The position taken by HMRC that an employer must continue to provide childcare vouchers as part of a salary sacrifice scheme during an employee’s maternity leave has been challenged by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in the recent case of Peninsula Business Services v Donaldson. The Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 (MPLR) state that […]

Most employers are well-versed in their statutory obligations not to discriminate against their employees on the grounds of sex, religion or belief, and age (the more common examples of “protected characteristics”), for example, but what about an employee who is transgender? How does an employer stay the right side of the discrimination barrier? Consideration must […]

In March our blog looked at the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill (SBEE) which was introduced in the last Queen’s Speech. Earlier this month our corporate team provided a commercial update of the SBEE. This latest update will focus on the employment law aspects of the SBEE. Penalty for underpayment of the national minimum […]

Religion is one of the nine ‘protected characteristics’ covered by the Equality Act 2010, which implements the Equal Treatment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC. This prohibits harassment and direct/indirect discrimination in respect of religion or belief of both job applicants and those in employment. Religious discrimination can also involve infringement of the Human Rights Act 1998 and […]

In July, the new(ish) Conservative government published the Trade Union Bill, which proposed amendments to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. This is part of the Conservative election pledge to review the laws on trade unions and industrial action. Under the existing law, a strike can take place if it is backed […]

According to a report in 2014 there are 2.1 million users of E-Cigarettes in the UK. With their meteoric rise in popularity comes aggressive debate about their safety and serious questions about their legal status. Some studies suggest that they are comparatively safe and help smokers to quit tobacco, but other influential groups (notably the […]

On 27 May 2015, the Queen delivered her 62nd Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament. The event was arguably more notable for the absence of the traditional quip by Labour veteran MP Dennis Skinner (the result of fighting Scottish Nationalists for his traditional seat on the front bench, Skinner explained), than the fact […]

With the General Election on 7 May 2015 rapidly approaching and the final manifestos released, we take time to look at how the policies of the main political parties may impact on employment legislation. Though the main parties share some similarities when it comes to their policies (for example, they all propose increasing the National Minimum […]