The widely reported case of the Christian hotel owners who refused a double room to civil partners, as they had a policy to only provide these rooms to heterosexual married couples, has hit the headlines again following the decision of the Supreme Court last week. This case has received much media attention partly because it […]
Settlement Agreements
Here in the UK the only regional differences in settlement agreements are the normal rates for advice contained within them. In some regions the legal fees are £500 plus VAT as standard and the lowest I have seen recently just £200 plus VAT. The same cannot be said for the UK and Ireland. In Ireland, […]
The story of Cadburys
CIPD has recently celebrated its centenary and as part of the celebrations it put together a task force to judge the 20 best organisations for HR in the UK. The panel judged a number of different areas including having a reputation for treating staff well over the last 100 years, a history of HR innovation, […]
Bring your own devices in the workplace
I recently blogged on the need for employers to update their policies to include provision for social media and the risks of not having such a policy. Well, Christmas is around the corner and we are told that high on the Christmas wish list for both young and old are portable devices. Apple is launching […]
Interns and national minimum wage
There has been lots of press coverage over the past few months about unpaid work and in particular internships. The Government has recently launched new guidance for interns on the issue of fair pay to help tackle some of the issues around knowledge. HMRC also appears to be taking a more proactive role. HMRC enforces […]
Flexible working
The reputation of some industries for allowing staff to work flexibly is better than others. Research has shown much still needs to be done. I therefore read with interest two articles published in our own professional magazine, the Law Society Gazette on this very issue this week. It is quite clear that as lawyers we […]
Judicial review
Whilst many Claimant solicitors await the outcome of the judicial review into the introduction of Tribunal fees, the High Court is to receive another challenge. A London employment firm is seeking to challenge the new 52 week limit on unfair dismissal awards which came into force also on 29th July 2013 under the Unfair Dismissal (Variation […]
TUPE regulations published
Further to my earlier blogs, the draft Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 have been published. They will be laid before Parliament in December and are expected to come into force in the New Year and will mostly affect transfers after this date. There are some transitional provisions relating to […]
Tribunal Awards
According to BIS 35% of claimants failed to receive their Tribunal Award. The research was conducted between May and June 2013 into whether awards were paid, the effect of non-payment and the reasons for non-payment. The actual figure may be even higher as some claimants who answered were unsure whether they had been paid in full […]
Out of hours conduct
It is always a fine line between conduct which occurs out of work and the ability to discipline or dismiss for it. Some examples are more clear cut than others. It is not limited to conduct in the course of employment provided it affects the employee or could be likely to affect the employee when he […]