In the current economic climate, it is an unfortunate fact of life that employees are facing numerous constraints concerning pay and benefits. Pay freezes are commonplace and several councils have made the news by requiring employees to accept pay cuts or face dismissal. As a general principle, the unilateral imposition of material contract variations which…
Many employment law rights (such as unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy pay) are restricted to “employees” as defined. It is usually obvious whether a person has a contract of employment (i.e. a contract of service between an employer and an employee) or a contract for services (i.e. made by an employer with an independent contractor/self-employed…
An interesting “TUPE question” came before the EAT in July. The case is Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust v (1) Hamshaw & Ors (2) Perthyn (3) Choice Support, EAT on 19 July 2011. Hillside House was a care home in Bassetlaw run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. The seven residents were supported by healthcare assistants, who…
The government is pushing forward with its plans to reduce red-tape, recently inviting businesses and individuals to become more involved in its “Red Tape Challenge” by completing a series of questions about the enforcement of rules and regulations. A “Red Tape Challenge Enforcement” website has been set up at www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk until 31 August 2011. The…
It seems that the Equality and Human Rights Commission agrees with the many Christians who believe that courts and tribunals “have interpreted the law too narrowly in religion or belief discrimination claims”. In a Press Release issued on 11 July 2011 the Commission says that it is concerned that “rulings already made by UK and…
As is well known, the general rule is that employees must either take their full holiday entitlement during the holiday year in which it accrues or else forfeit the right to any holiday not so taken. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, a worker has no right to carry untaken holiday forward to the next…
There has been a good deal of media coverage concerning the threat of public sector industrial action over pay. In this context, a new report by the Office for National Statistics provides an interesting contribution to the debate. In July, the ONS published a report attempting to compare public and private sector pay (“Estimating Differences…