Two recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) cases highlight some of the issues a business needs to consider when contemplating dismissing an employee. The first case is a reminder to employers that contractual termination provisions must be clearly drafted and will…
Businesses should be made aware of a number of changes to employment law that will take effect on 6 April 2014. These include: Employment tribunals will be given the power to impose a financial penalty on employers who lose at…
Two civil servants who received lower severance payments than younger colleagues would have been entitled to when leaving their posts on a voluntary basis have achieved a resounding success in their age discrimination claims. The men were employed by the…
In refusing to increase a £6,000 damages pay-out awarded to an Army chef after he was called a ‘dumb black b***ard’ by a sergeant, the Court of Appeal has underlined the importance of public perception and that victims of race…
Under Section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, employers have a duty to consult with appropriate representatives of employees concerning forthcoming redundancies if 20 or more employees are to be dismissed at one establishment within…
In a case which succinctly encapsulated the current state of the law on the vicarious liability of employers, an innocent customer who was savagely attacked by a petrol kiosk attendant on a supermarket forecourt has received the Court of Appeal’s…
Many arrangements with carers are informal and it is easy to forget that this does not mean that ‘anything goes’. Where a carer is paid, an employer/employee relationship will normally arise. This carries implications as regards – for example –…
In a case which raised new issues on the inter-relationship between insolvency rules and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), the Court of Appeal has dismissed the unfair dismissal claims of four employees who lost their…
In a striking example of even the most ‘watertight’ contract drafting failing to oust the jurisdiction of Employment Tribunals, a scaffolder has successfully argued that, far from being a mere subcontractor, he was a 'worker’ within the meaning of the…
In a case which raised novel issues on the interrelationship between insolvency and transfer of undertakings rules, a haulage company (company A) is facing a rash of Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings after taking over the workforce of another company (company…
