I have written on numerous occasions about the sometimes odd and unexpected practical applications of the Religion and Belief Regulations (now incorporated within the Equality Act). This month has seen another and some would say rather tenuous interpretation of what constitutes a protected philosophical belief. Mr Devan Maistry worked for the BBC and presented complaints…
The Government is currently carrying out a consultation on workplace dispute reforms and on Friday 15 April the CBI added its substantial contribution to the debate in the form of its report: “Settling the matter: Building a more effective and efficient tribunal system“. The report criticises the current “slow, legalistic and antagonistic” process so derided…
It is now well known that where parents of a child born on or after 3 April 2011 are both working, then once the mother goes back to work the father (provided he has “clocked up” at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment with the employer) can then take up to 26 weeks of “additional paternity…
Amendments to the PAYE Regulations in effect from 6 April 2011 mean that the perfectly legal “trick” of deducting only basic rate PAYE from termination payments made to departing (or more accurately recently departed) employees who are higher rate tax payers will no longer work. Currently where a payment to an employee is deferred until…
A government “Plan for Growth” document was issued along with the Budget on 23 March 2011. From an employment law angle the following items are of most significance: • extension to businesses with fewer than 250 employees of the right for employees to request time to train has not been implemented on 6 April…
As is well known, the Equality Act 2010 replaced the vast majority of British anti-discrimination laws with one single statute on 1 October 2010. Not all parts of the Act came into force on 1 October 2010 and 6 April 2011 is the start date for three significant related items: 1. Positive action (Equality Act…
For many years it has been the practice of the Inland Revenue, now HMRC, to publish “extra-statutory concessions”. These effectively correct errors in and omissions from legislation which would result in tax being collected where it would be inappropriate. The practice has always been of questionable legitimacy. For HMRC to have discretion, even via published…
The main employment related National Insurance and similar benefits for 2011/2012 (starting at various dates in April 2011) are as noted below (see the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2011). Equivalent details for earlier years going back as far as 1939 are available on a website maintained by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Main employment…
Strange as it might sound, it is possible for one’s status as an employee to end in circumstances that do not terminate one’s contract of employment. This was the thorny issue in Société Générale London Branch v Geys, decided by the Court of Appeal on 30 March 2011. In that case, it was crucial to…
The Bribery Act 2010 was passed just over a year ago, on 8 April 2010 as one of the final pieces of legislation enacted by the last Labour government. The incoming coalition government originally intended to bring the Act into force on 1 October 2010 but postponed this until April 2011 – and then again…