In an extraordinary turn of events the regional newpaper conglomerate Northcliffe Media, which publishes 113 newspaper titles, has served redundancy notices on newspaper boys and girls in Crawley. Unsurprisingly the young workers have turned to social media by setting up a Boycott the Crawley News Facebook page. According to a report in the Press Gazette…
Employment status often falls to be considered by courts and tribunals, not least because so many important consequences flow from it – employment rights, for example, and tax and NI treatment. Weight Watchers v HMRC is a decision of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) concerning the employment status of Weight Watchers leaders. It…
The second of this month's two disability cases, Burke v The College of Law & Anor, was a decision of the Court of Appeal concerning a mature student at the College of Law who had multiple sclerosis. He was seeking to qualify as a solicitor, and over the period of the legal practice course agreed…
Two cases this month looked at the impact of the application of provisions, criteria or practices ("PCPs") in the workplace and employers’ duties to make reasonable adjustments. The first, Roberts v North West Ambulance Service, related to an ambulance dispatcher who suffered social anxiety disorder. He worked shifts, and the employer operated a "hot-desking" system…
Dominguez v Centre Informatique du Centre Ouest Atlantique is a decision of the CJEC (European Court) concerning the Working Time Directive which looked at whether a provision of French law imposing a rule that workers on sick leave must have actually worked for at least a month in a leave year before they could take,…
Commuting is no fun, unless you are fortunate enough to work from home, but imagine the plight of the international commuter. Now at least they may have the comfort of knowing that they have employment law protection, as this case shows. Since 1996, when the territorial restriction was removed from unfair dismissal legislation, there has…
Last month we reported the decision in Jose v Julio (and other linked cases) concerning au pairs and the minimum wage. This month sees a new case looking at the position of a domestic worker from overseas and the extent to which she could benefit from UK employment law rights. The complications in Zarkasi v…
Only organised groupings of employees, whose principal purpose is carrying out activities for a particular client, will be transferred under the service provision change sections of TUPE, and Eddie Stobart Ltd. v Moreman sheds useful light on what amounts to an “organised grouping” for this purpose. The case was brought by 35 workers in a…
In Caterpillar Logistics Services (UK) Ltd v de Crean, the Court of Appeal has upheld the refusal of an injunction application against a former employee. Mrs de Crean had worked in a senior capacity and had a contract which included a confidentiality agreement but did not include terms restricting her activities after her employment ended.…