Employment Matters - January 2021 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment Matters - Public Health - January 2021 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Health and safety: Landmark case gives protection to workers from suffering detriment on health and safety grounds By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The High Court has held that protection from suffering detriment on health and safety grounds…
Employment Tribunals: Recent changes to early conciliation and current guidance on tribunal hearings By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter On 1 December 2020, the rules in relation to early conciliation were changed…
Future Changes: What to expect in 2021 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter THE FACTS Unsurprisingly in the context of the pandemic, the Government’s legislative agenda for…
Future Changes: What to expect in 2021 - Financial Services By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter THE FACTS Unsurprisingly in the context of the pandemic, the Government’s legislative agenda for…
Employment Matters - Financial Services - January 2021 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Court of Appeal: Did 37 separate communications amount to a protected disclosure? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The Court of Appeal has held they did not, and an employment tribunal was right on the facts of…
Breach of Contract: What happens when both parties are in repudiatory breach? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter A firm was entitled to terminate the contract of a self-employed stockbroker without notice for a…
Constructive Dismissal: Was a failure to return to work at the end of maternity leave an acceptance of the employer’s breach of contract? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employee who did not return to work after her maternity leave had accepted her employer’s…
Constructive Dismissal: Witholding salary for three days was a repudiatory breach of contract By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employer who intentionally withheld salary for three days was in repudiatory breach of contract,…
Discrimination: When can cost considerations justify indirect discrimination? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The Court of Appeal has held that an employer’s need to reduce staff costs in order to balance its…
Whistleblowing: Employment tribunal time limits and the application of the ACAS code of practice when employees make whistleblowing allegations By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The EAT has held that the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures may apply…
Tribunal costs awards: Employer recoups record £432,000 in legal costs By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employment tribunal has made what is believed to be the highest ever costs award against a…
Vicarious liability: Is an employer liable for its employees’ practical jokes? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employer was not vicariously liable for an employee’s practical joke that went badly wrong.
Public sector exit payments By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The Regulations imposing a £95,000 cap on public sector exit payments are in force from 4 November…
ICO publishes new guidance for handling data subject access requests (DSARs) following its consultation By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter Following its consultation, which ended in February this year, the ICO has published new detailed…
Employment Matters - November 2020 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matter focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment Matters - Health - November 2020 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matter focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment Matters - October 2020 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matter focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Disability discrimination: employee suffering from paranoid delusions did not have a disability By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employee who suffered from paranoid delusions was not protected against disability…
Unfair dismissal: “mapping” in redundancy situations By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employee who resigned after her employer tried to “map” her into a new role, rather than make…
Confidentiality clauses: a confidentiality term was drafted too widely to be enforceable By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter A contractual confidentiality term which was intended to run indefinitely and covered confidential…
Right to privacy: will reliance on WhatsApp messages in misconduct proceedings be a breach of the right to privacy? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The police force was entitled to rely on officers’ WhatsApp messages in misconduct proceedings.
Employment tribunals: amendments to tribunal rules to increase hearing capacity By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The Government intends to amend the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure to increase the capacity…
Employment Matters - Health - October 2020 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matter focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Unfair Dismissal: It was not unfair to dismiss an employee without following any procedure after a breakdown in working relationships By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employee was not unfairly dismissed following a breakdown in working relationships, even though…
Unfair Dismissal: Practicability of re-engagement By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employer’s concerns about an employee’s capability and integrity made re-engagement…
Unfair Dismissal: Unfair dismissal claim could proceed even though the claimant had no chance of a monetary award By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The EAT has held that an unfair dismissal claim should proceed where there were arguments of…
Unfair Dismissal and Disability Discrimination: The importance of considering mitigating factors and following policies By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter In a gross misconduct case, relying on a zero tolerance policy to dismiss an employee, without…
Employment Matters - September 2020 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matter focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment status: EAT upholds decision that cyclist dropped from Olympic training programme was neither an employee nor a worker By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A professional cyclist who participated in a training programme run by British Cycling was neither…
Reasonable adjustments: Refusing to give a written undertaking to pay a severance payment in the future was a failure to make a reasonable adjustment By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The EAT has held that an employment tribunal could make a recommendation in a successful reasonable…
Holiday pay: Should a profitability bonus be included in holiday pay calculations? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The EAT has held that a profitability bonus should not be included in holiday pay for 1…
Furloughed workers: Job retention bonus and how to calculate statutory redundancy and notice payments for furloughed workers By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter More details have been published about the Government’s Job Retention Bonus and legislation has…
Public sector exit payments By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter We have already alerted you to the fact that the Government has resurrected the idea of caps to…
Employment Matters - July 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
COVID 19 Update By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The Covid-19 employment law landscape continues to evolve…
TUPE: An employment contract can be split between multiple transferees on transfer By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The European Court of Justice has held that, where an undertaking transfers to multiple…
Restrictive Covenants: Constructive dismissal, garden leave and non-compete clauses By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The High Court has upheld a six month non-compete clause where, taking garden leave into account,…
Whistleblowing: Taking action against a worker for the manner in which they blow the whistle By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The EAT has considered whether taking action against a worker for their manner in blowing the…
Employment Matters - Health - July 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment Matters - June 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
TUPE: are transfer-related changes to an employee's contract void if the changes are beneficial for the employee? By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan In a landmark ruling, the EAT has held that all changes to terms and conditions of employment which…
Confidentiality clauses: employer was liable to make full payment under a COT3 in spite of the ex-employee's breach of the confidentiality clause By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan The High Court has held that breach of a confidentiality clause in a COT3 was not breach of a…
Constructive dismissal: last straws By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan The EAT has held that an employee was constructively dismissed although the act that tipped him…
Redundancy: can employers use competitive application procedures in redundancy situations? By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT considered circumstances when it would be appropriate to use competitive…
Disciplinary and grievance procedures during the pandemic By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan ACAS has published guidance on the conduct of grievance and disciplinary procedures during the…
Furlough leave: updates on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan Furlough continues to be a significant topic for all employment practitioners…
Employment Matters - Health - June 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell, Zoë Wigan DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment Matters - April 2020 By Ceri Fuller, James Rhodes, Joanne Bell DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
COVID-19 Employment Law changes By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter Following on from our alert on 27 March here, HMRC have now released some updated employer…
Barclays v Various Claimants By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The same justices who heard the appeal in the Morrisons data protection case also gave judgment on…
COVID-19: Impact of school closures and other recent developments employers need to know about By Ceri Fuller, Louise Bloomfield, Joanne Bell Following on from the Prime Minister’s announcement last night that schools will close for the…
Employment Matters - March 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Disability discrimination: EAT considers whether one-off acts amount to a provision, criterion or practice By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter One-off acts by an employer in the course of dealing with one employee can, but will not always,…
Whistleblowing: Court of Appeal holds employer not liable for making a false statement to third parties about a whistleblowing ex-employee By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employer who made a damaging false statement about a whistleblowing ex-employee to third parties…
Unfair dismissal: EAT finds dismissal was unfair because the investigating officer failed to pass important information to the decision maker By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A dismissal for alleged sexual assault was unfair because the investigating officer failed to tell…
Unfair dismissal: EAT considers whether it be fair to dismiss to avoid reputational risk By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter It was fair to dismiss an employee to avoid reputational damage when he had been charged with a…
Employment Matters for Health - March 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Family Friendly Rights: Webinar By Ceri Fuller, Louise Bloomfield In this webinar, DACB Partner Louise Bloomfield and Legal Director Ceri Fuller discuss the upcoming…
Employment Matters - February 2020 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
6 April 2020: What is changing for Employers? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Changes to statutory rates and employment related legislation are coming into effect from 6 April…
New Law: Section One Statements By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter From 6 April 2020, all employers will need to take action to comply with new obligations to provide…
Brexit: Employment Rights By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter No changes expected in 2020 to existing EU-derived employment rights.
Suspension: Solicitor who was suspended wins right to continue to perform most of her duties By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The High Court has granted an interim injunction requiring an employer to permit a solicitor who…
Sexual harassment and harassment at work: Technical guidance issued By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published technical guidance on harassment in the…
Unfair Dismissal: Probation service employee who failed to disclose a child protection issue was fairly dismissed By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A Probation Service Officer was not unfairly dismissed for deliberately failing to give her…
New Law: Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter From 6 April 2020, parents who have tragically suffered the loss of a child will be entitled to two…
Indirect religious discrimination: Blanket “no beards” policy indirectly discriminated against Sikh job applicant By Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter, Zoë Wigan Mr Sethi is a Sikh who adheres strictly to Kesh, which is the requirement that the hair of the body…
The Queen's Speech: Employment Law Changes By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter On 19 December 2019, the Queen’s Speech was delivered, setting out details of legislation that the…
Whistleblowing: Suffering a Detriment By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter To bring a whistleblowing detriment claim in an employment tribunal, a worker must suffer the…
Workers Status: Right of Substitution By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A courier’s ability to “release” a delivery job was not an unfettered right of substitution
Menopause: New Guidance For Employers By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter ACAS has published guidance to help employers manage and support menopausal staff…
Data Protection: ICO amends guidance on timescales for compliance with DSARs By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has amended its guidance on the timescales for…
Miscarriage and the workplace By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The Miscarriage Association has published a leaflet containing information and advice for…
Employment Matters - December 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Holiday and sickness absence: Employers are only required to allow carry-over of four weeks' holiday for workers on sickness absence By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Under current law, employers must permit workers who are unable to take their statutory annual…
Whistleblowing: Public interest test By Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter, Zoë Wigan A claimant must have the opportunity to give direct evidence about whether they had a subjective…
Whistleblowing: Interim relief By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An application for interim relief can be brought in a whistleblowing claim for unfair dismissal…
Automatically unfair dismissal: Should the motivation of anyone except for a decision maker be taken into account? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employee was automatically unfairly dismissed because the investigation was driven by a manager…
Disability discrimination: Sickness absence triggers By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employer who did not adapt the sickness absence trigger point for a disabled employee failed to…
Confidentiality clauses: Evolving position By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Ignited by the #MeToo movement, there continues to be significant interest around the topic of…
General Election 2019: Possible employment law reform By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter With the UK general election fast approaching, we have summarised the key employment law policies…
Employment Matters - November 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Religion and belief discrimination: Beliefs about transgenderism were not protected by discrimination legislation By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A Christian doctor whose beliefs about transgenderism prevented him from referring to transgender…
Legal advice privilege: Leaked email from a solicitor was legally privileged By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The Court of Appeal has overturned an EAT decision and held that a solicitor’s leaked email did not…
Race discrimination: The dangers of not giving an honest reason for a dismissal By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employer who lied about the reason for a dismissal was trying to cover up a dismissal tainted by…
Indirect religion and belief discrimination: Did an employee suffer indirect discrimination because of her beliefs about copyright? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The Court of Appeal has dismissed an employee’s claim that she suffered indirect discrimination…
Unfair dismissal: Disciplinary investigations By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The removal of an investigator’s evaluative conclusions from an investigation report following…
Employment Matters - October 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Religion or Belief Discrimination: Employment Tribunal finds ‘vegetarianism’ is not a “belief” protected from discrimination By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employment tribunal has held that vegetarianism is not protected by discrimination legislation…
Legal Privilege: Cherry picking the waiver of legal privilege By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Employers who decide to waive legal privilege over documents that support their case risk…
Whistleblowing: Is an employee protected as a whistleblower if the disclosure is made partly out of self-interest? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employee who makes a disclosure partly out of self-interest may be protected as a whistleblower…
Redundancy Payments: Employee entitled to be awarded a Statutory Redundancy Payment as well as an NHS Contractual Redundancy Payment By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The tribunal cap of £25,000 for contractual claims did not apply to prevent an employee being…
Employment Matters for Health - October 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Employment Matters - September 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Holiday Pay: Holiday pay entitlement for part year workers By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Statutory holiday pay entitlement for workers who only work for part of the holiday year should be…
Illegal Workers: Illegal worker was not barred from bringing contractual claims against her ex employer By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A domestic worker whose right to live in and work in the UK had expired without her knowledge was…
Employment Matters for Health - September 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Junior Doctors: Widely used methodology for monitoring working hours and rest breaks for junior doctors is flawed By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The Court of Appeal has held that junior doctor pay has been incorrectly calculated in breach of…
Covert Recordings: An employee's covert recording is not necessarily an act of gross misconduct By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter The EAT has given useful guidance on whether, and when, covert recordings by employees will amount…
Employment Matters - August 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Discrimination: Stereotypical assumptions By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter A tribunal can take judicial notice of stereotypical assumptions that might be held, but it must…
Disability Discrimination: Employer's knowledge of disability By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employer did not have constructive knowledge of an employee’s disabilities because she had…
Harassment: Are employers liable for employees' offensive Facebook posts? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter An employer was not liable for harassment when an employee posted a racially offensive image on…
TUPE: National minimum wage pay information By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Transferors are not responsible for providing pay information under national minimum wage…
Consultation Update By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan, Hilary Larter Government responds to two consultations and issues four more restrictive covenants
Employment Matters - July 2019 By Ceri Fuller DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Collective Bargaining: Unlawful inducement By Ceri Fuller A one-off direct offer to employees bypassing collective bargaining was not an unlawful inducement.
Right to Privacy: Employer's reliance in dismissal procedure on material found by police on an employee's phone was not a breach of the employee's right to privacy By Ceri Fuller An employer who, when deciding to dismiss an employee, relied on material found on an employee’s…
Disability Discrimination: Perceived disability By Ceri Fuller An employer’s refusal to accept a request from a serving police offer to transfer because it…
DSAR responses: High Court decides paper files need to be considered, and gives guidance on reasonable and proportionate searches (as well as legal professional privilege) By Ceri Fuller In this case the High Court (in a remitted hearing from the Court of Appeal) looked at whether a…
Employment Matters - June 2019 By Nick Chronias, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Unfair Dismissal: Dismissal of a Christian employee for proselytising was not unfair By Nick Chronias, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An NHS Trust did not unfairly dismiss a Christian nurse who had continued to proselytise to…
Working Time: The ECJ holds that employers must have a system for measuring daily working time of all workers By Nick Chronias, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The European Court of Justice has held that member states must require employers to set up a system…
Disability Discrimination: Blocking of internal posting for disabled employee was not disability discrimination By Nick Chronias, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employee with multiple disabilities did not suffer disability discrimination when an overseas…
Disability Discrimination: Knowledge of disability By Nick Chronias, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The dismissal of an employee may have been discriminatory even though the employer only found out…
Unfair Dismissal: Employer's failure to follow its own informal disciplinary procedure resulted in constructive dismissal By Nick Chronias, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An employee of an NHS Trust who resigned in response to the issuing of an informal “Improvement…
Employment Matters - May 2019 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Unfair Dismissal: Employer could rely on tribunal findings to forgo a disciplinary investigation but an appeal hearing was still required By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An FCA regulated employer dismissed an employee in reliance on an employment tribunal’s findings…
PHI: Dismissed employee was entitled to compensation for his PHI benefits until hes death or retirement age By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The EAT has held that an employee would have been entitled to PHI benefits until death or…
Executive Remuneration: Government report published By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter A Business, Energy and Industrial (BEIS) parliamentary committee has published a strongly worded…
Vicarious Liability: Employer not liable for injury sustained by employee at Christmas party By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The High Court has held that an employer was not liable for injuries sustained by an employee when…
Discrimination and Whistleblowing Awards: Vento Band increased By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter An increase to the bands for injury to feelings awards in discrimination and whistleblowing awards…
Government resurrects plans for a cap on public sector exit payments By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter The government has launched a consultation on draft regulations and associated guidance which…
Employment Matters for Health - May 2019 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller, Hilary Larter DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Cyber and Information Law Newsletter: Issue 1 - Round up of 2019 By Jade Kowalski, Rhiannon Webster, Ceri Fuller, Khurram Shamsee, Sophie Devlin, Christopher Air Welcome to the relaunch of our cyber and information law round up…
Cyber and Information Law Newsletter: Issue 1 - Sector spotlight By Ceri Fuller, Khurram Shamsee, Jade Kowalski, Sophie Devlin, Christopher Air Spotlight on data protection issues in the employment sphere HR professionals handle a wide…
Employment Matters - April 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Suspension: The suspension of a teacher in anticipation of a misconduct investigation was not a breach of trust and confidence. By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An employer had reasonable and proper cause to suspend a teacher: necessity is not the correct…
Suspension and Internal Process: Continuing with internal process before conclusion of criminal proceedings not a breach of contract but suspending a Doctor without pay was. By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller An NHS employer was entitled to progress internal hearings concerning a doctor although a criminal…
Disciplinary Discrimination: No discrimination where an employee mistakenly believes that following an instruction would exacerbate her disability By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan A disciplinary warning for refusal to comply with an instruction was not unfavourable treatment…
Disability Discrimination: Reasonable adjustments and dedicated parking spaces. By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An employment tribunal was wrong in its approach to reasonable adjustments when considering whether…
Discrimination: Disciplinary proceedings and unconscious bias By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan A gay headteacher was constructively dismissed because of a flawed disciplinary investigation into…
Working Time: Compensation for failure to provide rest breaks By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An employment tribunal was entitled to award personal injury damages where an employer’s failure to…
Discrimination: Positive action By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller In the first employment tribunal decision on positive action, an employment tribunal found that the…
Employment Matters March 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters focuses on some of the most interesting cases and events…
Discrimination: An employer does not directly discriminate by treating an employee less favourably because of the employer's rather than the employee's religion or belief By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The dismissal of a nursery teacher for co-habiting with her boyfriend, contrary to her employer’s…
TUPE Dismissals: The dismissal of an employee because of a bad working relationship with a colleague was a TUPE related dismissal By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The dismissal of an employee on the day of a TUPE transfer because her new employer anticipated…
Unfair Dismissal: Asserting a future breach of a statutory right cannot be the basis of a claim for automatically unfair dismissal By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller A claim of automatically unfair dismissal for asserting breach of a statutory right must be based…
Limits on tribunal awards and statutory payments to increase from 6 April 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan From 6 April 2019, the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will rise from £83,682 to…
Agency Workers: Hirer's liability for failure to provide equal pay to agency workers By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The hirer of agency workers was liable for the agency’s failure to pay equal pay to the workers in…
Working Time & Compensatory Rest: Compensatory rest breaks need not be for an uninterrupted period of 20 minutes where there is a "special case" exemption By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An employer is entitled to allow an employee, when they have been unable to take an uninterrupted…
New guidance issued by NHS Employers on the use of settlement agreements and confidentiality clauses By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan NHS Employers have issued a new factsheet for employers and workers in order to assist…
Employment Matters February 2019 By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters February 2019 focuses on some of the most interesting cases and…
Disability Discrimination: Employer's knowledge of the disability By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An employer had actual and constructive knowledge of an employee’s disability months before an OH…
Discrimination: Burden of Proof By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller Court of Appeal overturns EAT burden of proof decision.
Whistleblowing: Is an employee complaint about defamation protected? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The EAT has held that a complaint about defamation is capable of being a qualifying disclosure, and…
Discrimination: Judges' and Firefighters' pension schemes By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller In a landmark case, the Court of Appeal has held that the Government has discriminated against…
Immigration: January Developments By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller Settled status fees abolished, right to work checks go digital, and planning for a 'no deal' Brexit
Working Time: Calculation of holiday pay By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The European Court of Justice considered whether a reduction of pay for statutory holiday to take…
Employment Matters - January 2019 By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller DAC Beachcroft's Employment Matters January 2019 focuses on some of the most interesting cases and…
New Work Plan: Government issues further guidance By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The Government has laid the first statutory instruments in relation to its proposals under the Good…
Workplace Sexual Harassment: Government to introduce statutory code of practice By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The Government has published its response to the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s report of…
Privilege: Emails about commercial settlement of a dispute were not covered by litigation privilege By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller Emails between board members and board members and stakeholders were created for the dominant…
Disability Discrimination: Employee was dismissed for a tendency to steal, and could not claim disability discrimination By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller An employee was dismissed for a tendency to steal, which is excluded from being a "disability"…
Disability Discrimination: What is "unfavourable" treatment? By Zoë Wigan, Ceri Fuller The Supreme Court has agreed with the Court of Appeal that advantageous treatment because of a…
Dismissal while on PHI benefit: Restriction on dismissing employee receiving long term disability benefits By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT has held that, given the drafting of a particular contract, a term should be implied to…
National Minimum Wage: Consultation By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Government has launched a consultation on National Minimum Wage rules about salaried workers…
Unfair Dismissal: Redundancy trial periods By Ceri Fuller An employer’s failure to offer a contractual trial period was likely to mean that the employee’s…
Equal Pay: Time limits for bringing claims By Ceri Fuller The EAT has held that a “stable working relationship” can potentially be maintained where workers…
Breach of Contract: Foundation trust did not breach consultant's contract when it investigated its concerns outside the MHPS framework By Ceri Fuller The High Court has held that the provisions of MHPS were not incorporated into a consultant's…
Worker Status: Addison Lee taxi drivers are workers By Ceri Fuller The EAT has upheld an employment tribunal decision that drivers working for Addison Lee were…
Vicarious Liability: Employer vicariously liable for Managing Director's assault By Ceri Fuller An employer was vicariously liable for its managing director’s assault on an employee when drinking…
Whistleblowing: Individual workers can be liable for a whistleblowing dismissal By Ceri Fuller The Court of Appeal has upheld the EAT’s decision that an employee may bring a claim against a…
Employment Tribunals: Claims of unlawful deductions from wages By Ceri Fuller The Court of Appeal has held that employment tribunals have jurisdiction to resolve disputes about…
Disability Discrimination: Causation test for discrimination arising from a disability By Ceri Fuller The causation test for discrimination arising from a disability must not be applied too strictly.
Holiday Pay: Employers need to show they have encouraged their workers to take the holiday they have accrued By Ceri Fuller In two co-joined German cases, the European Court of Justice has looked at the issue of when a…
Data Protection: Employer vicariously liable for a rogue employee's internet disclosure of 100,00 employees' personal information By Ceri Fuller The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that Morrisons was vicariously liable in…
Termination of Employment: Ambiguous Resignations By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An employee’s letter to an employer giving “one month’s notice” was not a letter of resignation.
Disability Discrimination: Incompetent procedure was not discriminatory By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Court of Appeal has held that an employer’s use of an “arcane and unwieldy” to process an…
Unfair Dismissal and Immigration: Employer should have allowed employee a right of appeal when he had been dismissed for failing to evidence his right to work By Ceri Fuller The EAT has held that the dismissal of an employee for failing to provide evidence of his right to…
Employment Status: Employment Tribunal find Hermes couriers were workers By Ceri Fuller Following on from the Pimlico Plumbers case, an employment tribunal has found that couriers of…
Data Protection: Disclosure of mixed personal data By Ceri Fuller The Court of Appeal has considered the circumstances under which personal data which relates to a…
Menopause: Is it a disability? By Ceri Fuller A Scottish tribunal case has highlighted that women who have the symptoms of the menopause may be…
Unfair Dismissal: automatically unfair dismissal for trade union activities By Ceri Fuller When is an employee’s conduct so bad that dismissal for carrying out trade union activities will…
Equal Pay: Comparators By Ceri Fuller The EAT has held that a group of female employees' right to equal pay was not affected by the…
Zero Hours Contract: Part time workers' discrimination By Ceri Fuller A part time associate lecturer on a zero hours contract was employed under the same type of…
Constructive Dismissal : Last straws By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell The Court of Appeal has confirmed that a last straw incident can revive the employee’s right to…
Constructive Dismissal: Unilateral imposition of a pay cut can never be reasonable and proper By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell An employer can never have a reasonable and proper cause for breaching the implied term of trust…
Unfair Dismissal: Summary dismissal for a pattern of behaviour, rather than a single act of gross misconduct, can be fair By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell The dismissal of a surgeon with an unblemished record for a series of misconduct issues was…
Unfair Dismissal: A dismissal without prior warning can be fair even if the misconduct is "serious" rather than "gross" By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell The EAT has held that a dismissal without prior warning is not necessarily unfair where the conduct…
Disability Discrimination: Dismissing for misconduct where the misconduct is caused by disability By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell A dismissal for misconduct can be discriminatory even if the employer does not know that a…
Contractual Notice: In the absence of an express term, when does notice of termination take effect? By Ceri Fuller If there is no express contractual term, contractual notice takes effect on the date when it comes…
Redundancies and Unfair Dismissal: Does an employer have to consider "Bumping" in redundancy situations? By Ceri Fuller In this case, the EAT considered whether employers are required to consider bumping junior…
TUPE: Service provision changes and fragmentation By Joanne Bell, Ceri Fuller In this case, the EAT considered whether there had been a service provision change where the…
Employment tribunals: Costs orders By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell The EAT has confirmed that costs orders can be awarded in respect of costs incurred before the…
Disability discrimination: Long working hours By Ceri Fuller, Joanne Bell The Court of Appeal has confirmed that an expectation that a disabled employee would work long…
Whistleblowing: awards for detriment claims may include post-termination losses By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Court of Appeal has held that, in principle, whistleblowers can claim post-termination losses…
Disability discrimination: when does the employer "know" about a disability? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan This Court of Appeal decision confirms that an employer does not have to take every possible step…
Injunctions: springboard injunction could be appropriate where the employee breaches a contractual term requiring him to tell his employer about job offers from competitors By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Courts have held that a 12 month springboard injunction preventing an employee from working for…
Pensions and age discrimination: certain pension schemes changes could amount to age discrimination By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan Under the Equality Act 2010, discrimination on grounds of age is unlawful unless it can be…
Whistleblowing: a detriment claim can be brought against overseas colleagues By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT has held that whistleblowing claims can be brought against co-workers who are based abroad…
Whistleblowing: the person subjecting a whistleblower to a detriment must be personally motivated by a protected disclosure By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT has decided that, to be liable for a detriment under whistleblowing legislation, a person…
Collective Bargaining: outsourced workers not entitled to collectively bargain with "De Facto" employer By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Central Arbitration Committee has rejected a claim that outsourced workers employed at a…
Covert Surveillance: does it breach the right to privacy? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The use of hidden cameras did violate the right to privacy of employees who were dismissed for…
Unfair Dismissal: effective date of dismissal By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The effective date of termination for a summary dismissal is the date on which the employee is told…
Collective bargaining: Unlawful inducements to cease collective bargaining By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT has upheld an employment tribunal's decision that an employer offered employees unlawful…
Disability discrimination: Employment tribunal was right to find perceived disability discrimination By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Facts In this case the EAT upheld an employment tribunal decision that a police officer, who…
Whistleblowing: Disclosures made purely in self-interest are not protected By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case the EAT held that an employee who raised compliance issues purely out of concern for…
Wrongful constructive dismissal: don't give misleading reasons for dismissal By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan Employer's false explanation that the reason for dismissal was reorganisation, when it was poor…
Subject access requests under the GDPR: much ado about nothing? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan There is no denying that the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") will have far reaching…
Discrimination: part time workers By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT upheld a tribunal's decision that the requirement for a part time worker to…
Constructive dismissal: suspension was not a neutral act but a repudiatory breach of contract By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The High Court has held that the suspension, pending investigation, of a teacher accused of having…
Whistleblowing: non-executive directors personally liable for nearly £1.8 million following the dismissal of a whistleblower By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT upholds a finding that (with the employer) two non-executive directors were jointly and…
Discrimination: increases to awards for injury to feelings and personal injury By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Court of Appeal has held that the 10% increase in certain types of awards in county courts…
Privilege: confidentiality and "clean hands” By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the High Court considered whether a document was privileged, looking at whether it…
Restrictive covenants: High Court upholds six month non-compete By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The High Court has held that the reasonableness of a six month non-compete clause should be…
Disability discrimination: refusal to adapt multiple choice test for job applicant suffering from Aspergers was discriminatory By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT has upheld a tribunal's decision that a job applicant suffering from Aspergers was…
Unfair dismissal and race discrimination: poor attitude to organisational change can constitute gross misconduct By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The Court of Appeal has held that an employee's poor attitude to organisational change had amounted…
Unfair dismissal and disability discrimination: dismissing for long term sickness absence By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT made the difficult decision that an employer should not have dismissed an…
Disability harassment: no harassment without proving a disability By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT held that a claimant cannot bring a claim of harassment based on a disability…
Sex discrimination: redundancy of part time employee was unfair as tainted by indirect sex discrimination By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT upheld findings of indirect sex discrimination and discrimination on the…
Notice: when does notice take effect? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan Does contractual notice of termination take effect on posting, delivery, or communication of the…
Breach of contract: nominal damages of £1 awarded despite taking confidential information By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan Where former employees breach a duty of confidence and make no use of that information such that…
Unfair dismissal: dismissal for trade union activities By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The dismissal of a trade union representative for keeping private information that had been…
Unfair dismissal: relying on mobility clauses in redundancy situations By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan The EAT has held that two employees with contractual mobility clauses who refused to relocate were…
Wrongful dismissal: can an employee be dismissed without notice for gross negligence? By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the Court of Appeal held that gross negligence can constitute gross misconduct,…
Legal advice privilege: lawyers' notes of investigatory meetings disclosable By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the High Court ruled that lawyers' notes of interviews with employees and…
Whistleblowing: identifying the "legal obligation" By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT held that a tribunal had erred in its approach to considering whether there…
Disability discrimination: work stress By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT provided guidance on when stress caused by difficulties at work may be a…
Vicarious liability: employer was not liable for MD's assault on an employee By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan An MD assaulted an employee at a drinking session after the Christmas party, and the employer was…
Unfair dismissal: gardening leave and small mistakes undermine fair procedure By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT considered an appeal against a finding that a redundancy dismissal was fair…
Unfair dismissal: "manifestly inappropriate" final written warning By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the EAT considered when a tribunal should revisit earlier warnings in unfair…
Statutory maternity payments: bonuses and settlement agreements By Ceri Fuller, Zoë Wigan In this case, the First Tier Tax Tribunal decided that a bonus should be included in calculation of…
