June 2021 - Didlaw

Employment Tribunal Statistics 2021, the year so far

30 June 2021

A total of 9,100 single claims were submitted in the first quarter of 2021. Whilst this is a 13% decrease on the same period in 2020 there was a spike in claims in the last quarter of 2020 and the number of outstanding claims is a huge 44,000. To put that figure in context the […]

Will Flexible Working Practices become the default?

29 June 2021

According to The Guardian the government has confirmed its plans to commence a consultation which would consider whether flexible working practices would become the default option. Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson was quoted as saying a flexible working taskforce was examining how best to proceed and making flexible working a default option “unless there are good […]

was an employee unfairly dismissed for raising health and safety concerns?

28 June 2021

Yes, found the employment tribunal considering the matter of Mr M Ham v Esl Bbsw Ltd, another case concerning section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Mr Ham was employed by Esl Bbsw, a company that provides cleaning products, for 5 months. He therefore did not have the requisite service to bring a claim […]

can you be fired for social media posts?

25 June 2021

Possibly – it depends on the facts of the case. In the recently reported case of Spence v Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd, it was held that calling your boss a “young idiot” on Facebook and then questioning whether the disciplinary manager was in a relationship with the referenced manager did not provide a fair reason for […]

Can you get interim relief when claiming discrimination?

24 June 2021

Sadly, the short answer is no, as confirmed recently by the Court of Appeal in Steer v Stormsure Ltd What exactly is interim relief? By making an application for interim relief in the tribunal, a Claimant seeks an order that preserves their employment, at least insofar as pay is concerned which is reinstated, until the tribunal […]

Employee Misconduct and the Great British Summer

23 June 2021

Summer is finally here, the sun is shining and the football fans of England, Scotland and Wales are enjoying four weeks of almost continuous daily sport in the rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament. For many employees this happy coincidence can lead to only one destination. That is, of course, the Great British Pub and the multitude […]

another health and safety dismissal – this time it was fair

22 June 2021

This is the third case that I have read (there may be others!) where an Employment Tribunal (ET) has considered whether an employee’s claim that they have been unfairly dismissed under section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) is fair or not. This time the ET considered the health and safety dismissal […]

Social Class in The Workplace – The Final Equality Frontier?

18 June 2021

It is a truth widely known that the top end of most British professions are overwhelmingly dominated by posh people. Recent research by the Social Mobility Commission has found that 72% of the Senior Civil Service come from what it terms ‘privileged backgrounds’. This picture is replicated across most of the UK’s boardrooms, cultural and […]

ACAS publishes its fact-finding report on Fire and Rehire practices

17 June 2021

Increasingly “fire-and-rehire” practices have become more prevalent during the pandemic. Using these practices, we have seen employers dismiss then re-employ workers on changed terms and conditions and more often than not worse terms and conditions. Or the threat of these practices have been dangled in order to entice workers to accept new terms and conditions, […]