Month: May 2021

Can an employer’s fundamental breach of contract be ‘cured’?

13 May 2021

No says the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in the case of Flatman v Essex County Council, reaffirming that once an employer has committed a fundamental breach of contract such a breach cannot be remedied.  Background The Claimant worked as a Learning Support Assistant at the Respondent’s school.  Her duties included giving physical support and assistance […]

post lockdown return to the workplace: part 1

12 May 2021

The roadmap out of lock down is in motion so we now need to prepare to return to the workplace.  On 12 April non-essential retail, some aspects of the hospitality industry and certain public services opened their doors.  From 17 May it is expected that most other businesses will be able to reopen, to include […]

The thankless task of the Health & Safety Officer – Sinclair v Trackword Ltd

10 May 2021

Anyone who has been charged with implementing workplace health and safety procedures will know that it can be a thankless task. I once did a summer job in a quarry and reported concerns to my supervisor that some of the other operatives were smoking weed during their lunch hour and returning to site in the […]

Directors personally liable for aggravated damages and unpaid wages

7 May 2021

In Antuzis and others v DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd and others the High Court ordered two company directors to personally pay aggravated damages to the claimants. Claims for exemplary damages failed. In this case the Claimants, who were migrant workers brought High Court claims against the limited company for breach of contract in respect […]

shared parental leave – time for change?

6 May 2021

I remember blogging about the introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) when it was introduced in 2015.  The objective of this leave was to address the imbalance in gender equality, providing flexibility for parents looking after a new-born while maintaining their place on the career ladder. Typically, we had witnessed a bleary-eyed father returning to […]

does the furlough scheme discriminate?

5 May 2021

Cast your mind back to the early days of lockdown in March 2020. The world was a strange place, with eerily deserted streets dappled in unseasonal Spring sunshine. Many of us were realising at first hand the horrors of trying to work and educate small children within a confined space.  And the Chancellor Rishi Sunak […]

statutory paid miscarriage leave

4 May 2021

Until I had a miscarriage I had no idea that 1 in 4 women experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks. That is a staggering number. And in fact, it may even be more than that because of the taboo surrounding this subject. I recently read a blog by workingmums that a petition has been launched […]

was an employee fairly dismissed when he refused to return to work until lockdown was lifted?

3 May 2021

Yes, held an Employment Tribunal in the recent case of Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Limited. In the light of the pandemic there are a number of cases trickling through the Employment Tribunals now where employees have claimed that they have been unfairly dismissed, relying on section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 which […]