The Employment Appeal Tribunal in X v Y Ltd has ruled that an email containing advice from an in-house lawyer was not protected by privilege due to the “iniquity principle”, as there was a strong prima facie case that it advised on… Read more

Our colleagues at Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills have released their Employment Taxes Update (April to July 2018 edition). ... Read more

The Global Pound Conference (GPC) Series is a unique and ambitious initiative to inform how civil and commercial disputes are resolved in the 21st century, collating views from over 4000 people at 28 conferences spanning 24 countries worldwide. Herbert Smith Freehills teamed… Read more

Following a public consultation on the review of the Singapore Employment Act (the "EA"), the Ministry of Manpower ("MOM") announced on 5 March 2018 that amendments to the EA will be implemented effective 1 April 2019. ... Read more

The Commercial Court has ruled that a Dutch jurisdiction clause in a settlement agreement waiving claims on termination did not prevent an employer suing the employee in the member state in which he was domiciled (England) in respect of alleged… Read more

There is a growing appetite to resolve employment disputes by arbitration.  This is the finding of the UK Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) which published its Report on Arbitration and Employment Disputes in November 2017.  The Report, a product of over two years… Read more

In two judgments handed down on 18 October 2017, the Supreme Court (the “Court”) has allowed certain employment claims made by foreign nationals employed as domestic workers at the embassies of foreign states and a diplomat’s residence to proceed despite… Read more

The Government has published its scheme for refunds of tribunal and EAT fees following the successful judicial review of fees (see post here).  The scheme is open to both claimants and respondents who paid a fee, but does not cover… Read more

There has been considerable speculation as to the likely effects of the Supreme Court’s decision in R (on the application of UNISON) v Lord Chancellor to declare invalid the Government’s system of tribunal fees. Given the cogent evidence presented by… Read more

New presidential guidance has been issued in relation to how employment tribunals should calculate pensions loss and awards for injury to feelings in discrimination cases, available here. There are three bands for injury to feelings, with a usual minimum of… Read more

In Efobi v Royal Mail the EAT has ruled that it is not incumbent on the claimant in a discrimination claim to prove a prima facie case: it is for the tribunal at the end of the hearing to consider… Read more

Peter Frost, Partner and Head of Employment Disputes, recently contributed a review to David Liddle's influential publication, Managing Conflict: A Practical Guide to Resolution in the Workplace. Peter praises Liddle's approach to conflict in the workplace and describes the book as… Read more

The Supreme Court has this morning handed down its judgment that the fee regime introduced for Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal claims in July 2013 is unlawful under both domestic and EU law as it has the effect of… Read more

Two recent Court of First Instance decisions in Hong Kong - Fung Tsun Tong v A Link Network (HK) Ltd (Fung Tsun Tong) and Vermeerbergen Peter Alfred v Swisstribe Ltd (Vermeerbergen) - explored the nature and extent of the Hong… Read more

Labour policy in Singapore has long been handled collaboratively by the Government, employee unions and employers in what is known as the tripartism movement. This movement has now been formalised through the setting up of a corporate body, Tripartite Alliance… Read more

A recent decision in the anti-bullying jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission has highlighted the (potentially complicated) interaction between bullying complaints and an employer's internal investigation process. In Lynette Bayly [2017] FWC 1886, the Commission made an interim order staying an employer’s internal… Read more

On 28 March the Government Equality Office published its long-awaited consultation on caste discrimination, announced back in September 2016. The consultation will run until 18 July 2017 and seeks views on whether preventing caste discrimination is best done by legislation… Read more

The online register of employment tribunal judgments announced last summer is now live. The online service covers judgments in both England and Wales and Scotland and will include all new decisions in addition to some transcripts going back to 2015. Read more

The Ministry of Justice has finally published its post-implementation review of the introduction of fees in the employment tribunals and EAT. The review concludes that the fees regime is working well and that some individuals may have been discouraged but… Read more

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Justice have jointly launched a consultation on reforming the employment tribunal system, seeking views on how proposals for reform of the wider court and tribunal system should be… Read more

The President of the Employment Tribunals (England and Wales) has issued Presidential Guidance in force from 3 October, setting out a procedure for judicial assessment in the employment tribunal. Under this procedure, the employment judge will be able to give… Read more

Following the passage of legislation on 16 August 2016, the new Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) will commence hearing salary-related disputes between employees and employers from April next year. Accessibility The ECT will be accessible by workers at all salary levels,… Read more

The EHRC has published guidance for board directors on business and human rights. The TUC has launched a Dying to Work campaign, seeking better employment law rights for those with terminal illness and asking employers to sign up to a voluntary… Read more

A number of recent EAT rulings suggest that technical arguments over compliance with the early conciliation rules for tribunal claims may be given short shrift. ... Read more

From 6 April 2016, the cap on the unfair dismissal compensatory award will increase from £78,335 to £78,962 and the cap on weekly pay (used to calculate the unfair dismissal basic award and statutory redundancy pay) will increase from £475… Read more

The way in which employment claims are processed is likely to be the subject of some upheaval in the coming years. An interim report on the Civil Courts Structure Review written by Lord Justice Briggs includes proposals for an Online… Read more

A High Court decision has confirmed that the protection of legal advice privilege is not restricted to actual legal advice. The privilege will protect other information communicated from the lawyer to the client (or vice versa) to enable the lawyer… Read more

On 1 October 2015 the following changes came into force: New national minimum wage rates, the adult rate increasing from £6.50 to £6.70 an hour. Employment tribunals have lost their power to make wider recommendations for employers to take remedial… Read more

Where a fixed-term or part-time employee is subjected to less favourable treatment in the form of a series of similar acts or failures, the time limit for bringing a claim is three months from the last in the series. The… Read more

The Court of Appeal has dismissed Unison's challenge to the employment tribunal fees regime. ... Read more