As is well known there is no general rule that an employer must give a reference for an (ex-)employee, but if he does give one he must take reasonable care to ensure that it is fair. A case at the end of September in the Employment Appeal Tribunal shows how important it can be to…
The Coalition government has announced two “family friendly” employment law proposals, following a commitment in the Coalition’s “programme for government” which stated: We will extend the right to request flexible working to all employees, consulting with business on how best to do so” and “We will encourage shared parenting from the earliest stages of pregnancy including…
The specific change in the law made by Equality Act 2010 in relation to transsexual people is short and easy to state. The new wording means that the person concerned need not be under medical supervision to be able to sue for unlawful discrimination. This is a change from previous law, although the substance of previous law…
As a general rule, positive discrimination in favour of a particular category of persons involves discrimination against those not in that category. Depending on the particular situation, positive discrimination in favour of one category of persons is therefore likely to be unlawful discrimination against others. The Equality Act allows what it calls “positive action” in some situations. …
With a few necessary exceptions the Equality Act 2010 makes it inappropriate for an employer to ask a job applicant any health related questions before offering work to the job applicant. Merely asking questions about the job applicant’s health is not unlawful disability discrimination but anything the employer does in reliance on information given in…
The official June 2008 White Paper on the Equality Bill said that it would “ban pay secrecy and ‘gagging’ clauses which stop employees discussing pay with their colleagues”. The idea, of course, was to remove one of the practical difficulties sometimes faced by employees (generally women) seeking to bring equal pay claims on the basis…
Arlene Phillips, one of the judges on TV’s “Strictly Come Dancing” was aged 66 when she was not reappointed. Neither her age nor her sex on their own was the reason for her non-reappointment – this was provable from the fact that another judge was 65 and yet another judge was female. Under the law…
As noted in a previous newsletter blog post the substance of previous law making it unlawful to discriminate against a person in the employment field because of disability remains generally unchanged by the Equality Act 2010. However various detailed changes are probably more significant if the “protected characteristic” is disability than if it is one…
The general rule is that informal “out of court settlements” of employment disputes are not legally binding in the sense that they cannot exclude an employee’s right to take the matter concerned to an Employment Tribunal. As is well known, one exception to this general rule is a formal “compromise agreement”. Provided it complies with…
Important legislation such as the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 are all repealed (and replaced) and regulations such as the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003…