Time limits in harassment claims

22 April 2024

As most claimants discover, bringing discrimination and harassment claims can be complicated. Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust v Allen is a case, where the claimant’s win at tribunal was overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) because it believed that the tribunal judge had got the law wrong with respect to two aspects of […]

Increases to the Vento bands for discrimination claims

19 April 2024

What are the Vento bands? Compensation for discrimination is split into two main parts: The Vento bands were originally set by the Court of Appeal in the case of Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police (No2) [2003] IRLR 102. They give Tribunals the power to make awards according to the seriousness of the […]

Establishing a continuing act in discrimination claims

17 April 2024

Where a worker feels they have been subjected to discrimination in the workplace, escalation to an Employment Tribunal should be a last resort. Workers will generally try to avoid the costs and stress that Tribunal litigation brings. As a result, many workers will often have suffered from repeated acts of discrimination before they make the […]

Why is there a shortage of young people in the workplace?

15 April 2024

Statistics released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 22 February 2024 revealed a sharp increase in the number of young people out of work. The group covers ages 16 to 24 and are known as NEETs – not in education, employment or training. ONS statistics show that as of December 2023 NEETs make […]

Live-in domestic workers entitled to minimum wage

11 April 2024

From 1 April 2024 employees carrying out domestic work while living on site will now be entitled to the minimum wage. The legislation previously exempted from the minimum wage requirements live-in domestic workers who were not family members. Positive news for live-in employees! The rates for the minimum wage and the living wage have been […]

New code of practice on fire and rehire

9 April 2024

In March 2022, in response to public concern over the use of “fire and rehire” practices to implement changes to employees’ terms and conditions, the Government announced that it would introduce a new Statutory Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement (the Code).  Following consultation with employees, unions and businesses, a draft code was prepared […]

Refusal to attend work during lockdown was automatic unfair dismissal 

4 April 2024

We have started to see decisions from the raft of health and safety cases lodged by disgruntled employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The case of Goldstein v Herve is a good example. In this case, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an Employment Tribunal had been right to uphold claims relating to health and […]

A wave of new family friendly legislation

2 April 2024

April 2024 will see the introduction of some new family friendly legislation. Many may say that the legislation does not go far enough to make a practical difference for families, but at least these are steps, no matter how small, in the right direction to affording workers a more conducive balance between their work and […]

Redundancy Situation

28 March 2024

Must my employer place me in an alternative role if I am disabled? Yes, according to the seminal case of Archibald v Fife which has long been the authority for this.  The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has said yes again in Miller v Rentokil. The Claimant suffered from MS and was unable to continue working […]