The Employment Appeal Tribunal in the case of Warner v Armfield Retail & Leisure Ltd [2012] has held that a disabled employee’s contract of employment is capable of being frustrated, but that in such cases, the Employment Tribunal must first consider whether the employer was in breach of its duty Read more…
A potentially redundant employee will lose their right to a statutory redundancy payment if they unreasonably refuse an offer of suitable alternative employment made by their employer. In the recent case of Devon Primary Care Trust v Readman the Court of Appeal confirmed the correct test to use when assessing Read more…
As of yesterday employers are no longer vicariously liable for harassment of their employees by third parties, such as customers or contractors. Before 1 October 2013 if a third party had harassed the employee on at least two prior occasions and the employer knew about it and had not taken Read more…
A recent decision of the Employment Tribunal has confirmed that payments in lieu of accrued and untaken statutory holiday upon termination of employment must reflect normal pay: token payments are not allowed. The Facts In the recent case of Podlasiak v Edinburgh Woollen Mill Limited ET/2701291/2013, Ms Podlasiak worked for Read more…
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has given her key opinion this week on surrogacy arrangements and the rights of both the birth mother and the employee benefitting from a surrogacy arrangement in respect of Maternity Leave and other surrounding benefits. In February 2012, the Newcastle Read more…
The Government has published its proposals for reform of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”). The big news is that the Government has decided not to scrap the service provision change (SPC) rules. Instead, there is a relatively minor (and arguably unnecessary) amendment to reflect case law Read more…
In Alemo-Herron and others v Parkwood Leisure Ltd the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has held that the Acquired Rights Directive precludes UK courts from adopting a “dynamic” rather than a “static” interpretation of TUPE. What this means is that where transferring employees’ contracts provide that their terms are to Read more…
It has always been the case that payments which are expressed to be non-contractual but routinely or regularly such as to give an expectation of entitlement may be contractually binding through custom and practice. A recent Court of Appeal in Shumba & others v Park Cakes Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ Read more…
The cap on the unfair dismissal award will be the lower of £74,200 or one year’s gross pay with effect from 29 July 2013 (we knew this was happening sometime this month, but now the commencement date is confirmed). This will give both parties a more realistic expectation of what Read more…
In one of the biggest changes to redundancy law in recent years the case of USDAW v Woolworths has changed the way employers will need to undertake collective redundancy consultation. Before the Woolworths Judgment the established law was that employers only needed to consult with trade union or employee representatives Read more…