The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from an employee who was Christian and claimed indirect discrimination on the grounds of religious belief by being required to work Sundays. The requirement was found to be potentially discriminatory but on this occasion the employer could justify the requirement to work on Sundays. The employer ran […]
Sarah King Employment Solicitor
for specialist employment law advice
News
Responding to discrimination questions
The statutory discrimination questionnaires under the Equality Act 2010 will be replaced from 6th April 2014 with an informal approach to dealing with questions regarding discrimination in the workplace. ACAS has issued non-binding guidance for best practice on this area which can be found here
Protected conversations
Historically employers have been concerned over without prejudice discussions and whether they can be relied on later. Some employers are scared of saying the wrong thing or whether they are doing the right thing. The difficulty with without prejudice is that there has to be a dispute between the parties. Something that in itself can […]
Avoiding discrimination claims
Discrimination law has a purpose and is designed to: Ensure equality of opportunity at work Protect employees’ dignity Ensure that complaints can be raised without fear of reprisal Most employers want to do the right thing but some can get it wrong or not have this same ethos. What are the consequences for failing to comply with […]
TUPE Guidance from BIS
In what seems to be the main story this month, BIS has now published its revised guidance on the TUPE Regulations 2014. In a rather snappy title, you can read more in the Employment rights on the transfer of an undertaking: a guide to the 2006 TUPE Regulations (as amended by the Collective Redundancies and […]
Injunction against dismissal
The Supreme Court recently restored a High Court decision in the case of Chhabra that an injunction should be granted against the West London Mental Health NHS Trust to prevent it from proceedings with disciplinary action for gross misconduct against Dr Chhabra. The Trust was found to have breached Dr Chhabra’s contract of employment as […]
TUPE 2014
The Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have now been laid before Parliament and as previously reported will come into force on 31 January 2014. The final form of the regulations has a couple of key changes from the draft regulations which were published on 31 October 2013. These changes […]
NMW penalties to increase
BIS has announced that the penalty for employers who fail to pay the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will increase from February 2014 to £20,000.00. This is of course alongside the name and shame policy so it will be interesting to see who the first offenders are under the increased penalty regime . As always – watch […]
Philosophical belief
The Employment Tribunal has found that the Claimant’s political belief in democratic socialism qualified as a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. Whilst his mere support in the Labour Party was not enough, his political belief in democratic socialism as enshrined by the Labour Party’s core values was qualified. This was because he had […]
Zero hours consultation launched
Following my blog last year, BIS have now launched the consultation on zero-hours contracts. Following huge media interest last year the Government repeatedly promised the consultation which was launched on 19th December 2013. The Government wants to maximise the opportunities of zero-hours contracts but minimise the abuse and set out core standards that protect individuals. […]
(Our news section brings you the latest news on published judgments and cases which are all in the public domain. We only comment on these published cases and not cases of our actual clients. Publication of the case or comments is a public service designed to make the courts and tribunals more accessible and ensures justice is seen to be done. This is why court and tribunal judgments are published publicly.)