In case you’re overcome with excitement at the prospect of the Olympic torch appearing on a High Street near you, here’s a quick reminder of the employment law impact of the suspension of the usual Sunday Trading laws from 22 July to 9 September. Shop workers can opt out of Sunday working in larger shops…
Mattu v The University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2068 (QB) is a useful case looking at the extent to which Article 6 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights will be engaged in NHS disciplinary procedures. It concerns a consultant dismissed for misconduct by the Chief Executive of the…
Illegal working and eligibility for employment protection is another topic which seems to have been keeping the courts busy this year. Possibly a reflection of a wider issue concerning the composition of the workforce, some of the working practices which have been disclosed in these cases give serious cause for concern. In March we reported…
Can a claimant be found to have failed to mitigate their loss if they refuse an offer of settlement during the course of tribunal proceedings? No says the Employment Appeal Tribunal, unless the refusal is "wholly unreasonable". In Konczak v BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd, an employer made a settlement offer of £75,000 which the claimant…
The decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Clyde & Co LLP v Winkelhof [2012] UKEAT 056 holds that limited liability partnership (LLP) members may be "workers" for the purposes of whistle-blowing protection, even if they are remunerated in part by a profit share. The case concerned an equity member of a LLP who worked…
Another TUPE case this month highlights the need for an "organised grouping of employees" in a service provision change case which has as its principal purpose the carrying out of the activities concerned on behalf of the client. In this March’s decision in Eddie Stobart v Moreman and others it was held by the Employment…
In any business sale, the buyer and seller are concerned to be as sure as they can be that rights and obligations will transfer to the buyer under TUPE – and in areas where there is doubt, will usually provide for an indemnity by the seller for any rights not accounted for in the purchase…
During the second reading of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill on 11 June Vince Cable announced that the Government wants to promote and increase the use of agreements relating to the termination of employment as an alternative to employment tribunal proceedings. No details were provided but the intention is to "ensure that the offer…
The pace of change never gets any slower in employment law, and I have quite a few consultations and proposals to report. It remains to be seen how many of them will become law, and in what form, but after a couple of well publicised retreats over the budget, and the leaking of the Beecroft…
From Hansard: Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC): Will the Secretary of State give the House categorical assurances that this House and the other House will not use the Bill to include the recommendations of the Beecroft review, with specific reference to sack-on-the-spot? Vince Cable: I can give a categorical assurance. Of course, as…