It is an unfortunate fact of modern life that it seems that new administrations for high street retailers and other businesses seem to be announced almost every working day. A key concern in the context of employment law and, more importantly, for the employees concerned, is whether their employment automatically transfers to the new employer…
A former NHS worker, Elliot Browne, has been awarded £933,115 in compensation for race discrimination and unfair dismissal. Mr Browne was a divisional director at Central Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust until he was dismissed in 2008. An employment tribunal sitting in Manchester found that Mr Browne had been subjected to discriminatory treatment in the…
New statutory pay rates From 1 April the standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increases from £128.73 to £135.45 per week. From 6 April the standard rate of statutory sick pay increases from £81.60 to £85.85 per week. It is also expected that the basic state pension will increase from £102.15 to…
The decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in RBS v Donaghay has clarified a question which may not be obvious at the inception of disciplinary proceedings but often emerges in the course of the process: if an employee is to be dismissed for misconduct, does that conduct need to be what would be generally regarded…
Although not dealing with any new principles of law, the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the case of O’Cathail v Transport for London provides useful guidance about how tribunals should approach requests for adjournments from claimants on the ground of ill health. It is well known to those who appear regularly at tribunal…
Is it reasonable for someone to refuse a job offer as an alternative to redundancy if a reasonable person would have accepted the job offered? Yes, according to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Readman v Devon Primary Care Trust. Mrs Readman was at risk of being made redundant by her employer and was offered three…
As we reported last month, the qualifying period in order to bring a claim of unfair dismissal is being restored to two years. Although the change will come into force this April it will only apply to employees whose employment commences on or after 6 April 2012. It will therefore take some time for the…
In a widely reported speech made on 20 January, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has launched a vigorous attack on what he has called "chequebook justice" as a result of the government’s plans to introduce fees for employment tribunal proceedings. Under the proposals claimants will have to pay an initial fee on commencement of proceedings…
It had been expected that the government would implement updated provisions of the Parental Leave Directive requiring member states (if they had not already done so) to extend the period of unpaid parental leave available to parents by 5 March this year. Our current Regulations provide that, once an employee has completed one year’s employment…
On 23 January the Employment Relations Minister, Edward Davey, announced a pilot scheme for regional mediation networks for SMEs. This has resulted from the government’s Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation which opened with the consultation document in January 2011 and closed with the government’s response in November 2011. Located in Cambridge and Manchester, BIS will fund…