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The experienced solicitors at Chattertons always take a very keen interest in current legal cases. This is especially true when they have the potential to set a significant precedent for future proceedings. A recent case between Asda Stores Ltd and Brierley...
The government have recently published a consultation paper to extend the rights of women who have just returned from maternity leave, giving them priority over other redundant employees when the employer offers suitable alternative employment. ...
Determining your employment status can be crucial as employees will be afforded with certain legal protections that a ‘worker’ or someone who is self-employed will not receive. There are 3 main types of employment status. These are:- ...
The government has today announced that a new Code of Practice is to be introduced aimed at tackling sexual harassment at work. This follows the #MeToo social media campaign and an increasing prevalence of the issue of sexual harassment in the...
These are some of the changes in respect of Employment law that we can expect to see to come into effect within the early part of 2019: Increase in National Minimum Wages Rates Both national living wage and national minimum wage rates will increase...
The Prime Minister recently commissioned the independent Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices to ensure that the UK Labour Market can effectively adapt to the changes in Employment Law whilst ensuring the protection of workers’ rights in the...
Employers have a general duty of care and responsibility for employees’ physical and mental health and to prevent personal injury in the workplace. If an employer is aware of particular health or disability issues relating to an employee, they may have...
Following a three-year legal battle, the former Co-Operative Group HR Director, Sam Walker, has won her claim for equal pay and unfair dismissal. The Employment Tribunal has held that the Co-Op “directly discriminated against Sam Walker on the ground...
As winter sets in, it is timely for employers to consider any ‘winter’ employment issues that can arise. Being prepared for the particular issues that winter brings will ensure employers are ahead of the game and able to manage if...
The Court of Appeal have held that a company is liable for a violent assault by the Managing Director on an employee after the company’s Christmas party. Although the assault happened at a different venue to where the Christmas party occurred, the...
The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) recently upheld a Tribunal’s decision that private drivers working for Addison Lee (a private taxi service company) are classified as ‘workers’, rather than self-employed, and are therefore entitled to...
The Court of Appeal has recently upheld a judgment finding that the supermarket chain Morrisons was vicariously liable for a data leak of payroll information by a rogue employee. The case concerned an employee of Morrisons, Mr Skelton, who was an...
New legislation designed to allow time off from work for employees who have lost a child has recently received royal assent. The new Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 provides a right to two weeks off work for an employee who has...
A group of 65 Hermes couriers have successfully won their legal battle to be treated as workers instead of independents contractors. This case follows on from a number of recent successful gig-economy cases, with this one seen to have the most significant...
It’s that time of year we have all been looking forward to (or have we?) The 2018 World Cup in Russia sees 32 nations taking part in 63 matches from 14 June until 15 July. As an employer you may assume you have little to worry about in...
This was considered by the Employment Tribunal in the case of Miss A de Souza E Souza v Primark Stores Ltd . The Claimant, a transgender woman, applied for the role of retail assistant with the Defendant, Primark. On the application form the Claimant...
Last year we posted an article about a successful direct sex discrimination claim over shared parental pay. This decision has now been appealed. There has been some controversy since shared parental leave (SPL) came into effect on 5 April 2015. More...
Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs. A request could be for reduced days, staggered hours, home working, flexitime or even job sharing. There is a particular process which should be followed in order to make a formal...
So this is it, after a whole year of being on maternity leave and having celebrated my daughter’s first birthday, I have now returned to the world of work. During this past year my primary focus has been caring for my child and having quality time...
It’s that time of year again when business owners and HR professionals are busy getting to grips with impending changes in employment law. This year is no exception and there are a number of changes to be aware of. In this article, we...
Three recent cases, all determined by the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) have all held that various acts of surveillance by employers upon their staff have infringed their employees’ rights to pursuant to Article 8 (1) of the...
Introduction. Recently the High Court found Wm Morrisons Supermarket PLC (Morrisons) to be liable to its staff for the actions of a rogue employee who distributed personal data of the staff to a file sharing website. The Facts of the Case. ...
Michalak v General Medical Council [2017] UKSC 71 The recent case of Michalak involves the nature of judicial review on administrative action. The Claimant brought a claim in the Employment Tribunal against the General Medical Council (GMC), its chief...
Case : Antović and Mirković v. Montenegro ( application no. 70838/13 ) On 28 November 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that video surveillance installed in University Auditoriums infringed professors’ Article 8...
Last month we saw the Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissing Uber’s appeal in Uber v Aslam and upholding the Tribunals decision that drivers working for Uber were ‘workers’ rather than self-employed and therefore had certain basic employment...
It is unlawful under immigration laws for employers to employ individuals that do not have current leave to enter or remain in the UK, or individuals who have leave but are not allowed to work in the UK. A breach of the law makes employers liable to a civil...
The government has opened up applications for Employment Tribunal fee refunds to all who may be eligible, following a pilot scheme. This comes after the defeat suffered by the government back in July 2017, where the Supreme Court upheld an appeal by Unison...
In all walks of life, there is the potential to be exposed to bullying. Take sharks, for instance, who are colloquially characterised as the “bullies of the sea.” Although bullying is unacceptable anywhere, it is especially insidious in the...
Settlement agreements, formerly known as compromise agreements, have been commonly used by employers for many years as a means of ending the employment relationship with an employee. They are binding contracts signed by the employer and employee...
Introduction The monitoring of staff use of IT systems, e.g. email and telephone, is often deemed necessary by an employer to ensure that its staff are working during working hours. However employers in particular need to be wary of the risks of...
World Mental Health Day was marked on 10 October 2017 amid growing general awareness of mental illness, its impact, and greater willingness to discuss a subject which, especially in the past, has carried a stigma. This year, the theme is mental health in...
Introduction Many contracts of employment particularly in respect of senior staff, contain clauses known as post-termination covenants or restrictive covenants which can still bind an employee even after the termination of the employment contract. ...
Whilst instructing a solicitor to represent you in a Tribunal claim can benefit your case, it is true that the cost of instructing a solicitor to represent you throughout such a claim can potentially be significant. It is common for a party to...
Hardly a week passes when equal pay is not in the news. A recent example of this is the debate over BBC top earners’ salaries, published in July 2017, which has leant momentum to calls for greater transparency on gender pay divergence, not only in the...
Where a Claimant succeeds in a discrimination claim, an Employment Tribunal has the ability to: Order payment of compensation (uncapped) Make recommendations Make a declaration as to the Claimant’s and Respondent’s rights Injury to...
The holiday season, while welcomed by most of us, can bring a number of issues for both employers balancing the needs of employees, and parents trying to juggle work and childcare commitments. Here are some useful points to consider when it comes to workers...
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has today ruled that Employment Tribunal fees are unlawful. The case against the government, which introduced the Employment Tribunal Fees Order in 2013, was brought by Unison who had appealed a previous ruling...
Alzheimer’s Society is Chattertons charity of the year and all employees have undergone training to become a dementia friendly firm. Dementia can affects us all in many ways, therefore it is vital that we increase our understanding of Dementia to...
A father has won a direct sex discrimination claim for failure to pay enhanced shared parental pay in circumstances where female employees were entitled to enhanced maternity pay. Background Shared Parental Leave and pay Shared parental leave allows...
It is not uncommon for employers to determine that employees and workers cannot take time off at certain times of the year. This is particularly true in certain industries (for example, industries that rely on seasonal work or where demand for a...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed in Fulton and another v Bear Scotland that a gap of three months or more between one series of non-payments or underpayments and the next (in this case holiday pay), will break the ‘series of...
There are a number of reasons why an employer may wish to relocate an employee, several employees or even the whole office. Perhaps there have been problems between employees in a particular office, or there is more demand for the services carried out by an...
This was considered in the case of Marathon Asset Management LLP and another v Seddon and another [2017] . In this case, 2 employees worked for an asset management firm, Marathon Asset Management LLP. In the months before they left, a number of files were...
After the draft Labour party manifesto entitled "For the many not the few" was leaked to and published on the BBC website, we review the proposed far-reaching employment law reforms which Labour may implement if they were elected on the 08 June...
All employers irrespective of their size must pay workers a National Minimum Wage (NMW) with different rates applying for different categories of workers (current rates set out below). To establish whether a worker has been paid the NMW...
In the recent case of Government Legal Service v Brookes, the EAT has upheld a decision that, in requiring a candidate with Asperger’s syndrome to sit a multiple choice test as part of its recruitment process, Government Legal Service...
You issue a letter of notice to your employee by post. The question is however, does the notice of termination take effect on posting, delivery or on communication of the notice if there is no express term in the contract of employment stating when the...
There are 5 potentially fair reasons for dismissing an employee: conduct, capability, redundancy, statutory illegality or “some other substantial reason of a kind such as to justify the dismissal of an employee holding the position which the employee...
What is happening? Date: Employment/Immigration - Immigration skills charge applies to Tier 2 (general) and healthcare surcharge is added to Tier 2 (intra company transfers) visa category. April 2017 National Living Wage -...
This is always a difficult decision employers tend to face when there is an employee off sick for a long period time and shows little or no prospect of ever returning to work. What is the best decision for the employer whilst ensuring they do not open...
