Employment Law

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 […]

“Christmas comes but once a year . . . “ Are there only 24 days to go before Christmas?  Is it really all of twelve months since the last office Christmas party? One might have hoped that with Christmas coming round every year (and always on 25 December, just fancy that?), employers (and employees) would […]

Whistleblowing refers to a practice whereby employees bring a protected disclosure or grievance to their employer’s or a regulator’s attention which highlights an issue of mismanagement, corruption, illegality or some other wrong doing. Because of the controversial content of the grievance or protected disclosure the practice of whistleblowing often leads to the whistleblower being subjected […]

A recent landmark employment law ruling in the UK’s first ‘Caste discrimination’ case What is Caste? Caste systems involve the division of people into social groups. The idea of ‘caste’ is rooted in Hindu society and it is suggested that caste discrimination affects approximately 260 million people worldwide, the vast majority living in South Asia. […]

Jose Mourinho is once again the talk of the back pages, but this time it’s for all the wrong reasons. The self-proclaimed ‘special one’ may have landed the Blues in a crisis after a series of highly publicised events that he has been at the centre of. With many pundits speculating that time is ticking […]

If you are a keen follower of news from the City then you will regard as “old news” the announcement of the resignation of Dave Forsey as company secretary of Mash Holdings. For the uninitiated, Mash Holdings is Mike Ashley’s £2.7 billion holding company for his corporate ownership of Newcastle United and Sports Direct. That’s […]

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 […]

The recent decision of Newbound v Thames Water [2015] has shed light on how far an employer must go to introduce a new policy to their workforce. The case itself concerned an employee, Mr Newbound, who had worked at Thames Water for 34 years. Mr Newbound was instructed by his manager, Mr Andrews, to enter […]

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 […]

Depending on which newspaper you read: the average British employer is forced to negotiate a legislative employment battlefield strewn with deadly land-mines laid by faceless, bureaucrats from Brussels (aka the European Parliament) or, by contrast even in 2015 the industrial landscape echoes to the values and habits of Victorian mill owners who force employees to […]

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 […]

A traffic-clogged daily commute to and from our place of work is all too familiar to many of us.  The fact that we aren’t paid for the time wasted in that commute merely rubs salt into the wound. Can that commute ever be categorised as “working time”? For time to be classed as ‘working time’ […]