According to research those who are diagnosed with cancer in the workplace is rising. According to Cancer Research UK each year almost 120,000 people of working age are diagnosed with cancer in the UK. Employees who have been diagnosed with cancer will get automatic protection from disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Cancer is […]
ET fees unlawful so what next….
Well having been tipped off in advance that the Supreme Court was to hand down its Judgment in the Unison challenge to Tribunal fees, I was simply in the dark as to the news storm this would create. I will admit I was surprised that the Supreme Court decided that ET fees were unlawful. I […]
Uplift in discrimination cases
The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in the long running saga of whether or not we should be applying the 10% uplift in damages established by the Court of Appeal in Simmons v Castle in the employment tribunal. The case of De Souza v Vinci Construction (UK) Ltd was heard before the EAT […]
Volunteers in the workplace
Charities in particular can be vulnerable to employment claims as there is often a reluctance to formalise working relationships with volunteers. If a volunteer feels aggrieved they may try to assert that they have the status to bring a claim and without documentation formalising working arrangements charities are vulnerable to this. There has been much reported […]
Employing illegal workers and directorships
Employers are responsible for ensuring that they are nor employing workers who do not have the right to work in the UK. The employer is required to undertake (and show compliance) checks on workers to establish their entitlement to work before they commence employment. The consequences can be grave for employers who fail to comply. […]
Increases to statutory payments
On the 6th April there will be the usual annual increases to statutory payments. The cap on a week’s pay for calculating statutory redundancy will increase to £489 (from £479) which will also be used for calculating the basic award in the Tribunal. The increase in the maximum for an unfair dismissal claim brings the […]
Gender Pay Reporting guidance published
ACAS have recently published their Guidance on the Gender Pay Reporting requirements that are due to come into force on 6th April 2017. The guidance covers the law which is not yet in force but it is a useful starting point for those wanting to understand their obligations and why it was introduced in the first place. […]
ET decisions now public
As previously reported, the MOJ has now launched its online service. All Employment Tribunal Judgments will now appear on the online database going forward. In addition, the MOJ has started to upload some of the older 2016 judgments. You can access the database here. Having looked at a few searches the functionality seems limited but […]
New statutory payments
The Government has announced the following increases to statutory benefit payments with effect from April 2017: SSP (statutory sick pay) will increase to £89.35 (currently £88.45). SMP (statutory maternity pay) and maternity allowance, SPP (statutory paternity pay), ShPP (statutory shared parental pay) and SAP (statutory adoption pay) will increase to £140.98 (currently £139.58). I will post another reminder […]
Employment Tribunal Fees Review
Finally the Government has published its long awaited review of the Employment Tribunal Fees. The Report acknowledges that the drop in claims was significantly greater than it had anticipated for claims post introduction of fees v before. The report accepts that people have been discouraged from making claims but says that there is no conclusive […]