As specialists in employment law, we have day to day experience in all employment related matters. We would like to share some of our insights in the articles on this page.

News and comment from the team

Watch Out! Assurances Given to Employees Can Have Contractual Force!

Promises made and assurances given to employees can have contractual force, so it is vital not to make such commitments without taking legal advice. That point was made by one case in which a council went back on an assurance that a group of workers would have the opportunity to apply for voluntary redundancy. The council was subject to severe budget cuts and had informed the review and monitoring

Statistics Wrongly Ignored in Airline Purser Employment Case

Statistics do not have the best reputation – often being equated with ‘damned lies’ – but they can be of critical relevance to employment proceedings. That was certainly so in one case concerning a part-time airline purser who was alleged to have been less favourably treated than her full-time colleagues. The woman had worked full time in the past but had taken on a part-time role after returning

Can an employee request to move to another country under TUPE?

Multinational companies frequently move their operations between countries – but how do to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) impact on their search for value? The issue was strikingly raised by a case in which a Yorkshire-based office worker offered to follow his job to the Philippines – but only if he continued to be paid his UK salary. The man’s empl

Claimants may not get their fees back from the Respondent

In the case of A v B, Employment Judge Brain at the Sheffield Tribunal declined to order that the Respondent should pay the successful Claimant’s fees, on the basis the Claimant would soon be able to recover the fees from the government and thus there was no purpose in ordering the Respondent to indemnify him .

‘Gig Economy’ – Pimlico Plumbers Given Leave to Appeal

There have been a number of recent cases looking at the precise nature of the employment status of those working for employers who like their operatives to appear to clients as their representatives but who operate a model of self-employment. In February this year, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Pimlico Plumbers Limited against a finding that the claimant’s relationship with the

How to calculate holiday pay for voluntary overtime

We recently reported on the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Bear Scotland Limited and Others v Fulton and Others that Article 7 of the EU Working Time Directive (WTD) should be interpreted so that payments for overtime which employees are required to work but which their employer is not obliged to offer them do count as ‘normal remuneration’ for the purposes of calc

A Company can have liability for Independent Contractors

Companies generally bear legal liability for misdeeds committed by their employees in the context of their work, but does the same apply to self-employed contractors? The High Court tackled that issue in a group action concerning bank workers who claimed to have been sexually abused by a doctor in the course of pre-employment health checks (Various Claimants v Barclays Bank plc). Under an agreemen

HSE Fatal Injury Statistics 2016/2017

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published provisional statistics for fatal workplace injuries in Britain for the year 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017. Over the last 20 years there has been a downward trend in the rate of fatal injuries to workers, although it has showed signs of levelling off in recent years. The total number of deaths was 137, a fatal injury rate of 0.43 per 100,000 worke

Employee, Worker or Self-Employed Contractor?

When distinguishing between employees, workers and self-employed contractors, bargaining positions can provide a useful litmus test. That was certainly so in a further case on this topic in which an Employment Tribunal (ET) found that a bicycle courier was a worker, within the meaning of the Working Time Regulations 1998, notwithstanding that his contract specifically stated that he was not (Gasco

Discrimination on the Grounds of Religion or Belief

A Pentecostal Christian has failed to persuade the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) that the Employment Tribunal (ET) erred in dismissing his claim that he had suffered direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of his religious beliefs (Trayhorn v The Secretary of State for Justice). Barry Trayhorn worked at HM Prison Littlehey as a gardener. The prison houses approximately 1,200 inmates i

Air Transport Company Fined After Worker Crushed in Hangar Door Accident

A passenger air transport firm has been fined after a worker suffered brain damage when she was crushed by hangar doors at Luton Airport. Signature Flight Support operates a worldwide network of ‘fixed base operations’, delivering support to business and private aviation at more than 200 locations. The services provided include refuelling, hangar storage, maintenance, repair and overha

Acas Publishes Research Into Flexible Working

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has published the results of research it commissioned from Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. The research paper, entitled ‘Flexibility in the Workplace: Implications of flexible work arrangements for individuals, teams and organisations’, sets out to identify both advantages and disadvantages of flex

New guidance on injury to feelings payouts in discrimination cases

Following a consultation, the Presidents of the Employment Tribunal have issued revised guidance on the amount of compensation payable for injury to feelings in discrimination cases (the ‘Vento’ bands). In future, the guidance will be subject to revision on an annual basis, without the need for further consultation, with the first review taking place in March 2018. The Presidents consi

The Calculation of Personal Injury Compensation Payments

When a compensation award is made to the victim of an accident, the actual amount of the settlement is adjusted to take into account the interest the claimant can expect to earn by investing it. This is achieved by applying a ‘discount rate’, or ‘Ogden rate’ to the sum awarded. Traditionally, the percentage rate applied has been linked to returns on lowest-risk investments

Agency That Failed to Pay the National Minimum Wage Hit Hard In Pocket

Paying the National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a strict legal requirement and employers that fail to do so can be hit with punitive penalties. In one case, an employment agency that laid on thousands of underpaid workers at a warehouse received a six-figure fine. Following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), it emerged that workers who clocked on one minute late to work were docked a ful

You must tell your staff if you are monitoring emails and messages

In a recent ECHR case it reversed a previous case and stated that workers have a right to respect for privacy in the workplace, and if an employer is going to monitor their emails and messages, the employer should (exceptional reasons aside) tell the worker that their communications might be monitored. Here, although the employee knew it was forbidden to use work computers for personal purposes, h

Breaching Your Employer’s Confidentiality Can Lead to Imprisonment

Sharing confidential information with those outside their workplace can have serious consequences for employees, but many will be surprised to learn from one High Court case that such behaviour can even lead to imprisonment (OCS Group UK Limited v Dadi and Others). The case concerned a cleaning company that had lost a major contract to a rival. As a result, many of those who had serviced the contr

‘Good Work’ – The Taylor Review of Employment Practices

In October 2016, the Prime Minister commissioned Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and a former policy chief to Tony Blair, to look at how employment practices need to change in order to keep pace with modern business needs. The Review, entitled ‘Good Work’, has now been published and makes many recommen

Get good advice when dismissing senior staff

Terminating the employment of senior personnel can be legally complex and costly and, even when professional advice is taken, things can go wrong. The point was made by a case concerning a consultancy group that dispensed with the services of its CEO in acrimonious circumstances. Following the termination of his employment, the CEO launched proceedings against the group on the basis that it had no

Employment Tribunals allow litigation friends

It has for a very long time been possible for vulnerable people to be represented in court by litigation friends so that they can have proper access to justice. Now, in a decision of general public importance, that right has for the first time been extended to proceedings before an Employment Tribunal (ET). The case concerned a woman who had succeeded in automatic unfair dismissal and whistleblowi

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