Employment rights have been a key political battleground during both the Brexit process and the current general election campaign and, unsurprisingly, the approaches of the two main political parties are very different. On Brexit, the Conservatives seek to reserve the right to deviate from EU employment laws while also committing to maintain high standards of … Read more
The new world of work: report warns of an unprecedented rise in workplace activism Across all sectors and geographies workers are becoming more vocal in articulating their views – about the workplace, their employer and about wider social issues – and increasingly holding organisations to account, enabled and amplified by social media. This trend is … Read more
The Supreme Court in England has two issues to consider in the appeal which opens today. First, should the company be held to be vicariously liable for the acts of its employee in this case? It concerns, after all, a rogue employee, who took payroll data with which he was entrusted home on a USB … Read more
The Court of Appeal has held that an email containing advice from an in-house lawyer on redundancy was not, as the EAT had found, a cloak for dismissal on the basis of discrimination (Curless v Shell International Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 1710). The Court of Appeal agreed with the Employment Tribunal that the advice given … Read more
Updates recently added to our Employment Notes blog cover important rulings on privacy rights, holiday pay, covert recording and other topics, as well as the host of Government consultations and responses published in July 2019 (including confirmation of reforms on NDAs and redundancy protection during pregnancy/family leave). Please click on Read More for a full … Read more
The Government has confirmed that it is going ahead with its proposals to regulate confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements and employment contracts, largely as set out in its March consultation. The consultation response confirms that, “when Parliamentary time allows”, the Government intends to: legislate to ensure that a confidentiality clause cannot prevent an individual disclosing … Read more
The Government has published Good Work Plan: Consultation on measures to address one-sided flexibility setting out proposals to introduce new rights for workers to be given reasonable notice of their working hours and to be compensated where their shifts are cancelled or curtailed without reasonable notice. Views are sought by 11 October 2019 on whether … Read more
The Government has published Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss, a consultation closing on 7 October, which proposes a new right for employees to request workplace modifications on health grounds (this would be in addition to the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees). This would be similar to … Read more
The Government’s consultation, Good Work Plan: establishing a new Single Enforcement Body for employment rights, seeks views by 6 October 2019 on the case for a new single enforcement body, which would cover holiday pay for vulnerable workers, umbrella companies, the national minimum wage, employment agencies, and gangmasters and labour exploitation. The consultation also seeks … Read more
