Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives Update April 2021

29 April, 2021
This month the Asia EPI bulletin starts with a look at a new case in Singapore in which an employee was awarded SGD $1.4million in damages for unlawful dismissal. A timely reminder to ensure that employers follow due process when terminating employment, even in supposedly employee-friendly jurisdictions. You can read the case update here. Continuing … Read more

Hong Kong: HR Agenda for the year of the OX

02 February, 2021
Last year was full of the unexpected. In this bulletin, our Hong Kong employment team reflects on some key themes that emerged last year and considers how these will keep Hong Kong employers busy in the year ahead. Health and safety As the global pandemic continues, worker health and safety will continue to dictate working … Read more

DIFC Court: Whistleblowing Protections – A follow up from the Court of Appeal

11 January, 2021
The Court of Appeal reconsiders the CFI’s power to grant damages for breach of whistleblowing protections. Last April, we reported on the judgment of the Court of First Instance (“CFI“) of the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) in the case of Bassam Khalifa v S.W.I.F.T (Dubai) Limited (the “CFI Decision”). The CFI Decision indicated that the CFI has the power … Read more

Australia: Federal Court finds new whistleblower protections will not apply to detrimental conduct occurring before the commencement date of 1 July 2019

17 December, 2020
On 1 July 2019, the amended form of Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act), which sought to provide whistleblowers with greater protection than its predecessor, came into force. These amendments also repealed the specific whistleblowing protections in the Banking Act 1959 (Cth), Insurance Act 1973 (Cth), Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) … Read more

UK: employers should comply with Acas Code when handling whistleblowing complaints

21 October, 2020
Employers should follow the Acas Code on grievances when handling whistleblowing disclosures;  any failure to do so could lead to an uplift of up to 25% to the compensation award for whistleblowing claims.  Employers with separate whistleblowing policies should check they comply with the Acas Code requirements. The EAT in Ikejiaku v British Institute of … Read more

UK: High Court rulings on duty of care to protect against economic loss

08 May, 2020
In Rihan v Ernst & Young (Global) Ltd, the High Court awarded a former partner of Ernst & Young (EY) damages exceeding $11 million, broadly equating to past and future earnings for the rest of his career. The claimant, Mr Rihan, was a whistleblower who publicly disclosed suspected irregularities arising out of an audit for … Read more

UK: Whistleblowing – detriment because of “ordinary” unreasonable behaviour while making a disclosure could not be severed from the disclosure

11 April, 2020
Detriment for making a whistleblowing protected disclosure is unlawful, but in some cases it may be possible to establish that the reason for the treatment was the manner of making the disclosure and that this is distinct from the disclosure itself, thereby side-stepping whistleblowing protection. The EAT decision in Riley v Belmont Green Finance t/a … Read more