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

A recent Court of Appeal ruling highlights the importance of accuracy if an employer is going to publicly rebut a whistleblower’s allegations.  Although an employer is entitled to respond robustly, if the statements it makes are inaccurate or unjustified and damage the whistleblower’s reputation, this could amount to a detriment. It is unlawful to submit … Read more

Our final Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives update for 2019 looks at: the changes to immigration policies in China, that came into effect 1 August 2019 and relax the requirements for highly-skilled foreign workers and students which had previously been in place; in Malaysia, the amendments outlined in the Industrial Relations Bill which while not … Read more

A recent Supreme Court decision highlights the importance of a thorough investigation of the purported grounds for dismissing an employee, particularly if there could be reasons why a line manager might have engineered the grounds.  The Court ruled in Royal Mail Group v Jhuti that, if a person in the hierarchy of responsibility above an … Read more

The Supreme Court has ruled that UK whistleblowing laws must be read as providing protection against detriment to whistleblowers who do not satisfy the express requirement to be a ‘worker’, in this case judicial office-holders, in order to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights. Article 14 of that Convention makes it unlawful to … Read more

An employment tribunal has extended the scope of whistleblowing protection to cover workers who are considering making a protected disclosure, or whom the employer perceives to be considering doing this.  As a first instance decision this will not be binding on other tribunals, but it is the first time it has been successfully argued that … Read more

As we recently reported here, the new DIFC Employment Law (Employment Law, DIFC Law No. 2 of 2019) was enacted by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, on 30 May 2019. The new law will come into effect … Read more

The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee has today published its report following its inquiry into the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in discrimination cases.  This follows its report on sexual harassment, to which the Government  responded in December 2018 announcing consultation on its own proposals to regulate NDAs (see here);  the latest report … Read more