The recent High Court judgment in Rudd v Bridle & J&S Bridle Ltd provides some useful guidance on subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1998 (equally relevant to the new GDPR regime). Dr Rudd, a medical expert on exposure to asbestos, was the subject of a campaign by a lobbyist for the asbestos … Read more
The recent tribunal case of Fotheringhame v Barclays Services Ltd highlights the risk of an employee obtaining a re-engagement order following a successful unfair dismissal claim, even where there has been some contributory fault on the part of the employee. It also serves as a reminder that, where a re-engagement order is made, the financial … Read more
A reference to an adjustment for disabled employees in an employer’s own policy will be relevant in determining whether there is a duty to make that adjustment, notwithstanding that the policy may be expressed to be discretionary. In Linsley v Commissioners for HMRC, the EAT held that an adjustment that is recommended in the employer’s … Read more
Final regulations were approved on 28th March increasing the penalty for aggravated breaches of employment rights from £5,000 to £20,000, with effect from 6 April 2019. These regulations also provide for two other changes to come into force from 6 April 2020: the extension of the right to a written statement to ‘workers’, and the … Read more
Employers may increasingly be considering positive action to improve their diversity or gender pay gap. The caution needed when considering positive action is highlighted by a recent tribunal judgment, Furlong v Chief Constable of Cheshire Police, the first reported case on the relevant Equality Act provisions. The Equality Act allows an employer to prefer a … Read more
The deadline for the second year’s gender pay gap reports has now passed, with roughly the same number of employers as last year’s total meeting the deadline (and almost half of them doing so in the last week). Just over half of private companies have reported gaps that are higher or no lower than last … Read more
HMRC is consulting on the extension of IR35 reforms to the private sector from April 2020. As previously announced, the rules introduced in April 2017 in relation to off-payroll workers in the public sector will be rolled out to off-payroll workers of large and medium-sized private sector businesses from next year. But HMRC’s most recent … Read more
Mental Health First Aid England has published guidance for employers introducing mental health first aiders into the workplace. This highlights the importance of senior leadership engagement and makes recommendations on reviewing current working practices and support, creating clear documentation setting out the expectations and limits of the role, confidential logging of support conversations (anonymised), and … Read more
