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…
Regulatory Update for Farmers/Livestock Owners - New Scottish Legislation By Jamie Varney, Colin Bissett The Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill became law on 21 July…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Allegations against a doctor of being rude and unmanageable did not amount to “professional misconduct” By Udara Ranasinghe, Hilary Larter, Lynda Norbury Ms Idu was employed by the Trust as a consultant in emergency surgery…
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 - 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…
