The EAT has, today, dismissed an appeal against an employment tribunal's decision to refer a question under the DDA to the ECJ (in the case of  Attridge Law v Coleman ). Miss Coleman's 4 year old son is disabled. She resigned after her employer...

Last month the DTI issued - and, curiously, immediately buried - its response to its consultation on additional paternity leave and pay. The government has decided to grant employed fathers a new right of up to 26 weeks' Additional Paternity Leave, some...

In  Bolton School v Evans , the Court of Appeal handed down an important decision dealing with the extent of what does (and does not) amount to a 'disclosure' under the  Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. Michael Evans was an IT teacher...

The EAT has handed down a useful decision dealing with inconsistent sanctions by employers during the dismissal process. A firm of solicitors dismissed one of their solicitors, mainly for missing a limitation deadline. At least one other solicitor had not...

Last week, in  YMCA Training v Stewart , the EAT (Underhill J. presiding) handed down an important decision on the statutory dismissal procedures. Most of the decision is by a majority (one of the wing members dissenting), but it is unlikely that other...

Heyday's challenge to the age discrimination regulations opened in front of the Divisional Court this morning. Heyday contends that 'forced retirement' at age 65, permissible under the UK Age Regulations, is inconsistent with the EU Equal...

The Court of Appeal has handed down a decision confirming that a (new) employer who fails to give suitably swift undertakings not to use confidential information which an employee brings over from his (old) employer should pay the costs of any injunction...

The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2006 has been laid before Parliament, containing the increase in limits to tribunal awards which come into force on  1st February 2007. The key increases are as follows: * compensatory award for unfair...

Michael Duggan from Littleton Chambers has Emailed me to point out another important set of Regulations dealing pensions. As I can't face doing my own summary, I simply reproduce his Email (with his permission).. From: Michael Duggan Sent: 17 November...

The Court of Appeal has handed down an important decision in Commerzbank AG v Keen. It is important for two reasons. First, section 3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 does not apply to employment contracts. The point arose because the employer, a City...

Calm down everyone. The Employment Equality (Age) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2006  have been laid before Parliament. Coming into force in just a fortnight (1st December 2006), the regulations make substantial amendments to Schedule 2 of the main Age...

A great description by a High Court Judge of the 2004 procedures as "rebarbative" (go on, look it up  here !). In this case, the EAT rejected the argument that the three-month extension of time following sending a grievance does not engage if...

The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in  NTL Group Ltd v Difolco. Mrs Difolco, who was partially paralysed and could only work part-time, was made redundant. She was offered the chance to apply for another job as being suitable alternative...

It's competition time... The DTI has published a new 96- page guide for both employers and employees, entitled 'Rights and Responsibilities of Employees'. It is an extremely impressive summary of employment law: comprehensible, thorough and...

The EAT has held that there is no free-standing right to bring a claim before a tribunal for breach of the statutory procedures. The Claimant lacked the one-year qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal. Nevertheless, he argued that he could bring a...

The DTI has, this morning, announced who will qualify as a 'carer' under the new right for carers to request flexible working (coming into force on 6th April 2007 under the Work and Families Act 2006). The definition of 'carer' will cover...

In an important decision, the EAT (Burton J. presiding) has held that employees who are not of a description in respect of which a trade union is recognised by their employer are not entitled to 'cash in' on a protective award obtained by the union. ...

Acas has just launched its eight e-Learning packgake - this one on Sexual Orientation. The course focuses on:   defining sexual orientation and gender reassignment explaining the legal aspects of the sexual orientation Regulations explaining how the...

The EAT has, today, handed down a decision holding that ministers of religion can claim unfair dismissal. Ministers of religion have been regarded by the UK courts as appointed to a holy office and not as employees of a church. In December 2005, the House...

The EAT has handed down another decision dealing with the controversial interpretation of s98A(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. This provision, often referred to as the partial reversal of Polkey, states that "a failure by an employer to follow a...

The EAT has held that the failure by a Claimant to include her address on her Claim Form (as required by the rules) is not necessarily a fatal omission. Under rules 1 and 3 of the  Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations...

The EAT has handed down a decision ( London Borough of Lambeth v Corlett ) dealing with two points on the statutory dispute resolution procedures: Extension of Time The EAT held that a breach of contract claim dealing with failure to pay notice (following...

The Court of Appeal has, today, handed down judgment in  Keeley v Fosroc International Ltd.. For once, it's easy to summarise. Here goes... Where a staff handbook contains details of an enhanced redundancy payment, there is a presumption that it...

As reported in my bulletin of 4/7/06, Heyday (an organisation created by and closely associated with Age Concern) has issued a judicial review application in the High Court challenging the legality of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. In...

The EAT has handed down an interesting and practical decision dealing with strike outs. The employer had been in breach of various tribunal orders. It then turned up to a two-day tribunal hearing, having not peviously served witness statements, clutching a...

The ECJ has, today, handed down its decision in  Cadman v Health & Safety Executive  (see bulletin 18/10/04 for more information on the reference to the ECJ). Departing from the Advocate-General's opinion, the ECJ held that it...

The Age Positive website has put together a fantastic page of links and resources for age discrimination. Links/resources include: precedent letters to employees an age-bias free application form all the official Acas and DTI guidance View Age...

Sunday, 1st October 2006 sees new employment legislation come into force. Here are the highlights... Age Discrimination Yup, we must have all missed that one. Full details  here. New rights for mums Expectant women who are less than three months...

The EAT has handed down an important decision on the necessary content of a step 1 dismissal letter. An employee was dismissed for being found in a company van, about to drive, having consumed alcohol. He was in breach of a 'zero tolerance'...

The EAT has held that it is permissible to amend a Claim Form, so as to include a claim which did not exist at the time the Claim Form was originally presented. To put it more technically, an Employment Tribunal has jurisdiction to exercise its discretion...

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that time limits are not extended under the statutory dispute resolution procedures, where an employee brings a discrimination claim against another employee. The Claimant brought a race discrimination claim against...

The EAT has, in a decision handed down yesterday, neatly circumvented the requirement for mutuality of obligation in an employment contract. The Claimant, a TV reporter for ABC, was employed under a framework agreement whereby ABC was obliged to offer him...

A new Judicial Mediation Pilot Scheme has been launched. With the parties' consent, the case will be stayed pending mediation by a full-time tribunal chairman (specially trained for the purpose). The mediation can last for up to two days. It applies to...

The DTI has today published the first findings from the  2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. This is the fifth survey in the series - previous surveys were conducted in 1980, 1984, 1990 and 1998. It provides an up to date account of the state...

Regulars in the EAT will be all too familiar with 'reasons' appeals, where it is argued that a tribunal failed to give a sufficient explanation of why they reached their conclusions - hence making it impossible to see whether they fell into an error...

The heading makes this case sound boring, but it is important. This case is authority for the proposition that HM Revenue and Customs is entitled to charge an employer  full tax and NI  under the PAYE regulations, where the parties have wrongly...

The DTI has, this morning, published the official  age discrimination questionnaire  (.pdf document). It is in similar form to questionnaires under other pieces of discrimination legislation. The new questionnaire repackages, in a more attractive...

The Employment Appeal tribunal has handed down an important Disability Discrimination Act case, dealing with  whether a failure to pay disabled employees full pay when off sick is either a failure to make reasonable adjustments, or disability-related...

Age Positive, the organisation set up by the Department of Work and Pensions, has issued a series of guidance notes entitled 'The Facts, not the Myths'. Without wanting to be dismissive of the others, the two which are worth looking at:   ...

The EAT has handed down a decision dealing with an interesting little problem arising from the statutory grievance procedures. The Claimant brought three discrimination claims to which the statutory grievance procedure applied. In respect of claim 1, she...

The Court of Appeal has upheld the EAT's judgment in Khan v Heywood & Middleton Primary Care Trust (see bulletin dated 25/1/06). The case deals with the "lamentable" (para.78) drafting of rule 25 of the Employment Tribunal...

Fancy a cigarette? It'll cost you £50... The draft  Smoke-Free (General Provisions) Regulations  have been published for consultation by the Department of Health. The consultation period expires on 9th October 2006. In a...

Acas has today published its 106-page  annual report 2005/06. Key statistics include:   the Acas helpline answered 908,553 calls, compared to 880,787 last year Acas intervention has avoided 73% of potential hearing days (86% if including...

The EAT has handed down a decision dealing with the complicated question of what does (and does not) fall within the category where "the employee's remuneration for employment in normal working hours...does vary with the amount of work done in the...

The EAT has held, in  Anderson v Jarvis Hotels , that a hotel night manager was entitled to be paid for work even when fast asleep. The manager brought a claim for unpaid contractual wages (note: not under the Working Time Regulations) in respect of a...

Yet another EAT judgment overturning a chairman's decision to strike out a claim ... This case is authority for the proposition that a chairman is under an obligation to consider an adjournment (as an alternative to strike-out), even if the parties do...

Last week the House of Lords handed down its decision in  Majrowski v Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust (see bulletin 16/3/05 for the Court of Appeal's decision). The House of Lords upheld the Court of Appeal's decision, stating:  ...

A quick reminder that next week (10th July) sees the fourth anniversary of the  Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. The significance of this anniversary is that, under regulation 8, any employee who has...

Heyday, an organisation created by and closely associated with Age Concern, has issued a judicial review application in the High Court challenging the legality of the  Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. According to their press release,...

The Court of Appeal has, in part, overturned the decision of the EAT in Unison v Leicestershire City Council. See bulletin of 29/5/05 for the EAT's decision. This case is authority for the propositions that:   the fact that a case is of very...

Whilst I don't normally announce first instance decisions, this case contains such an amusing summary of how not to conduct a tribunal hearing (in the context of a wasted costs order) that I thought it deserved wider distribution. See paragraph 20 for...

The EAT has handed down a judgment dealing with time limits under Regulation 15(1) of the Employment Act (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004. The Claimant resigned on the basis of constructive dismissal and served a combined resignation and grievance...

The Court of Appeal has handed down an important decision in Woodward v Abbey National plc. In 2003, the House of Lords ruled ( in Rhys-Harper v Relaxion Group plc ) that ex-employees were entitled to rely on the discrimination legislation in...

The House of Lords has handed down a 4:1 ruling in Celtec v Astley, following the ECJ's decision last year. Upholding the employment tribunal and Court of Appeal's decisions, but on different grounds, it held:   following the ECJ ruling, a...

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has handed down a (short) judgment dealing with whether tribunals are entitled to grant a retrospective award of two (or four) weeks' pay against an employer who has failed to provide a written statement of terms and...

The EAT (HHJ McMullen QC presiding) has held that it is normally inappropriate to make a submission of 'no case to answer' at the end of the Claimant's case in whistleblowing cases. Whistleblowing is a form of discrimination. As with all...

At last, after twelve years of uncertainty, we have an answer. The Court of Appeal has, today, handed down judgment in Fraser v Hlmad Ltd, holding that the excess over £25k in a tribunal breach of contract claim cannot be recovered in the...

The draft statutory instrument, raising the adult minimum wage to £5.35ph from 1st October 2006, has been laid before parliament. It also increases the minimum wage to £4.45ph for 18-21 year olds, and to £3.30 for 16-17 year olds. The...

The DTI has issued a preliminary consultation paper on extending the right to 20 days' paid holiday per year to  28 days ' paid holiday. The additional eight days are intended to represent the eight bank holidays, so as to allow employees...

The EAT has held that an NHS Trust discriminated against a male nurse who was required to have a female chaperone present when administering an ECG to a female patient. Barts and London NHS Trust has a policy, in common with many other NHS Trusts, of...

The employment tribunal's decision in Allan v GMB was handed down earlier this week. In a claim brought by five test Claimants against the GMB, the GMB has been held liable for sex discrimination and victimisation in failing to pursue Middlesborough...

The  Notification of Redundancy Bill 2006 , has been introduced as a private members Bill in the House of Commons. If passed (which is unlikely), it will become a criminal offence for an administrator of an insolvent company to issue notices of...

The Court of Appeal has handed down its judgment in Taylor v OCS Group Ltd., dealing with issues relating to unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. Unfair Dismissal The Court of Appeal stated that the distinction between reviews and rehearings...

The DTI has just published eight 'age legislation factsheets'. They provide concise advice on topics such as 'objective justification', 'service related benefits', 'occupational pension rights' and 'redundancy'. To...

Acas has, this morning, published a really useful set of FAQs, dealing with both employers' and employees' questions about 'sickies', pub lunches and similar issues for World Cup devotees. View Acas World Cup Guide FAQs...

The EAT has handed down a decision considering whether it is possible to award costs against a Respondent who fails to submit a Response Form. It held that a tribunal's jurisdiction to award costs under the rules, when an employer fails to enter a...

The Court of Appeal has, this morning, overturned the EAT's controversial decision in  Redfearn v Serco. Serco dismissed Mr Redfearn, a BNP local councillor, following complains by the union that its (predominantly Asian) members objected to...

The Court of Appeal has, this morning, handed down a decision reinforcing the extreme nature of a strike-out order and emphasising how infrequently they should be made. In  Blockbuster Entertainment v James , the Claimant:   in breach of a...

The Employment Appeal has handed down a (short) judgment dealing with awards for injury to feelings. Although a small-value claim, the decision has general ramifications. The EAT held that:   tribunals must not take the size of the employer's...

With effect from 3rd July 2006, the Brighton hearing centre will move to  City Gate House, 185 Dyke Road, Brighton BN3 1TL.  According to the tribunal's notice, the new hearing centre is 10 minutes' walk from Brighton station. You can see...

This appeal involved the question of whether it was reasonably practicable to bring a claim within three months. The tribunal found in the Claimant's favour, allowing a claim through out of time. The employer had asserted, in the Response Form, that the...

The Court of Appeal has upheld the EAT's decision in Cross v BA, that a normal retirement age does not transfer under TUPE. The Claimants worked for British Caledonian, who had a retirement age of 60. After its take-over by BA in 1988, they continued to...

Today sees the launch of Age Positive week. The Age Positive website boasts a new 'Age to Z' guide - an alphabetical guide to age discrimination. Amusingly, the author seems to have got a little lost around 'M', having come up with the...

IDS Brief have just sent out a bulletin breaking the news of the near-repeal of TUPE 2006 by the House of Lords. On Wednesday, a motion to revoke TUPE 2006 was defeated by a narrow vote margin of just 79:77. The attempt to repeal new TUPE was based on an...

I'm being asked by a number of people to make my flowcharts for the 'right to request not to retire' transitional provisions publicly available. Here they are... View transitional priovision flowcharts...

The House of Lords has, today, dismissed Mr Rutherford's appeal in Rutherford v DTI (previously Harvest Town Circle). Mr Rutherford was over 65. He wanted to claim unfair dismissal, but was prevented by ERA 1996, s109 (the upper qualifying age)....

The Court of Appeal has handed down an important decision in CMC Group plc v Zhang. Mr Zhang signed a contract (not strictly a compromise agreement, but that does not matter) settling his claim against CMC for $40,000. It contained a clause, common in...

Acas has issued a fascinating discussion paper, setting out its views on the 2004 dispute resolution procedures, the future of the tribunal system and the future of conciliation. Key points include:   since the pre-acceptance procedures came in in...

Acas has issued a fascinating discussion paper, setting out its views on the 2004 dispute resolution procedures, the future of the tribunal system and the future of conciliation. Key points include:   since the pre-acceptance procedures came in in...

170 pages of commentary and analysis on the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 highlighting practical difficulties for employers and legal advisors sets out arguments on both sides when the Regulations are unclear Click here to see a sample and...

Acas has, overnight, published its Guidance on Age Discrimination. It is a very clear guide although, being aimed at employers, it is pitched at too basic a level for employment lawyers. There are some very useful flowcharts towards the end of the booklet. ...

This case is an example of a tribunal decision being set aside because of apparent bias (i.e. where the fair minded and informed observer present at the hearing, not being a party or associated with a party, having considered the facts, would consider that...

The EAT (HHJ Peter Clark sitting alone) has held that TUPE 1981 operates so that, when employees are dismissed for misconduct before a TUPE transfer, but are reinstated after the date of transfer by the transferor, the dismissal 'vanishes' and the...

The EAT has considered, in a case with slightly unusual facts, the difficult question of whether part-time employees who do not work on Mondays are entitled to a pro rata apportionment of extra time off in respect of Bank Holidays which always fall on a...

Last week, I reported  Alexander & Hatherley v Bridgen Enterprises , in which the EAT (Elias P. presiding) considered s98A(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. This section, which partially reverses Polkey, provides: " 98A(2)  Subject to...

It's not strictly employment law, but a lot of employment lawyers will find this case useful. It's good news for those who advise employment agencies... The Court of Appeal has allowed an employment agency's second-tier appeal in Euro...

The ECJ has, this morning (Thurs), handed down its decision in  Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging v Staat der Nederlanden . It is authority for the proposition that:   the ECJ TUPE case of Henke v Gemeide Schierke and Verwaltuingsgemeinschaft...

In a bulletin yesterday, I pointed out that an unfortunate side-effect of this weekend's revamp of the EAT website is that all previous links to EAT judgments on my bulletins no longer work. As you may know the www.emplaw.co.uk website hosts an...

An impressive new-look website has replaced the old EAT site, following the move of the employment tribunals service from the DTI to the Lord Chancellor's Department over the weekend. However, an unfortunate consequence is that all links to judgments...

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has issued revised Guidance on matters to be taken into account in  determining questions relating to the definition of disability. The new Guidance comes into force on 1st May 2006. However, the old...

The EAT (HHJ McMullen presiding) has handed down an important decision dealing with a common problem for tribunals when assessing the compensatory award. Knapton v ECC Card Clothing Ltd is authority for the proposition that:   if an employee...

Remember s23 of the Employment Act 1999? That's the section that gave the government the right to roll out employment rights to all categories of workers, not just 'employees'. The DTI has, today, announced the results of its review of...

The Court of Appeal has handed down an important decision emphasising the wide discretion that a tribunal has to make a Polkey reduction. The case, Gover v PropertyCare Limited is authority for the following propositions:   a Polkey reduction (i.e....

The EAT has handed down yet another decision taking a common-sense approach to the overzealous application of the procedural rules. This case is authority for the proposition that the administrative rejection of a Response by the Secretary (not a chairman)...

With age discrimination legislation only months away, the Age Positive campaign is launching Age Positive Week 2006, taking place  8th - 12th May 2006 . This includes events and activities to challenge ageist attitudes and stereotypes and to raise...

In Brown v London Borough of Croydon, the EAT has reaffirmed that it is not necessary for tribunals to adopt the traditional two-stage approach when considering discrimination claims. Traditionally, tribunals have been expected to consider the...

The DTI is proposing a minor amendment to the law on collective redundancies, to bring UK legislation in line with the ECJ decision in Junk Kuhnel. The amendment to s193 of TULR(C)A 1992 will make it clear that employers must notify the Secretary of State...

The EAT, in Vauxhall Motors v TGWU, has given guidance on when (and if) an employer needs to begin fresh consultation with a union about multiple redundancies under TULR(C)A 1992, s188. Vauxhall were proposing to make several hundred people redundant. They...

The EAT has handed down a decision which is likely to be used as authority for the proposition that a Respondent who triggers the need for a review hearing (because of not lodging an ET3 within 28 days) should pay the costs of that hearing. The Respondent...

This morning the ECJ handed down judgment in the rolled-up holiday pay cases. The judgment is already being heralded - misleadingly - as preventing rolled-up holiday pay. Essentially, the ECJ has ruled that rolled-up holiday pay is, prima facie, unlawful....

The EAT has handed down another decision on whether a letter of complaint from an employee qualifies as a statutory grievance letter enabling an employee to bring a tribunal claim. This issue was the content of the letter - did the letter raise the same...

The EAT has handed down a decision dealing with the transitional provisions for the Employment Act 2002. The statutory dismissal procedure (with impact on automatic unfairness, compensation adjustments and, as in this case, potential extensions of time for...

Well, one person was brave enough to take me up on the challenge of summarising the changes between the original draft Regulations, and the final draft which came out this morning... Louise Bland of Lupton Fawcett  has produced this summary, which I...

The Cout of Appeal has, this morning, handed down its judgment in Cable & Wireless v Muscat. Upholding the EAT and ET, the Court of Appeal affirmed the principles in Dacas v Brook Street Bureau that an agency worker could be an implied employee...

The DTI has, today, published the  final draft  of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 and laid them before parliament. Sadly, I haven't got time to summarise the changes right now. But I've uploaded them to my website for...

... and to make it even easier for people, they've just this second gone up on the DTI website. A quick glance at the transitional provisions for the 'right to request working beyond retirement' screams 'litigation, litigation,...

The Department for Work and Pensions has opened an online 'Pensions Debate'. Taking the form of easy, multiple-choice questions, it demonstrates the issues facing the UK in the next fifty years and explains the four 'Adair Turner' options in...

The House of Lords has, this morning, delivered its opinion in Powerhouse Retail Limited v Burroughs. Arising from the 60,000 part-time pension cases brought in the 1990s, it deals with the narrow point of time limits for bringing an equal pay claim when...

This one's only for true whistleblowing and data protection afficionados... The EU's Article 29 Working Party (which all 25 Data Protection country authorities sit on) has just published an Opinion on privacy issues related to the provision of email...

The EAT (Elias P. presiding) has handed down an important whistleblowing decision, clarifying the nature of the necessary causative link between the dismissal/detriment and the protected disclosure. The Claimant, a technology teacher at Bolton School, made...

This case is important... The Employment Appeal Tribunal (HHJ Peter Clark) has, for the first time, considered the rather complex s32(4) in the Employment Act 2002, which provides that no extension of time will be permitted for lodging a Claim Form unless a...

The House of Lords, yesterday, allowed the appeal in the part-time firefighters case. By a majority, the House of Lords held:   upholding the Court of Appeal, that reg. 2(3)(f) of the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment)...

This information is taken from a Newsflash distributed by  Wragge & Co. The Government has today announced that it will NOT move to a single multiplier for statutory redundancy payments when the Age Discrimination Regulations are introduced in...

They're like buses: another EAT case on statutory grievance procedures... This case largely follows Shergold, but goes a little further. It is authority for the propositions that:   a letter before action from a solicitor, which is adversarial...

The EAT has recently handed down judgment in  Clarke & ors v Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council and Wilson & ors v Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. The cases concern the narrow question of whether COT3 agreements in the North-East Equal...

The Court of Appeal has, this morning, handed down a judgment containing an important gloss on Carmichael v National Power (in which the House of Lords held that two tour guides working on a series of ad hoc engagements was not employed due to lack of...

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has handed down judgment in  Bachnak v Emerging Markets Partnership (no. 2) . For those with long memories, this case went to the Court of Appeal a few years ago on the issue of employment status. Although Mr Bachnak...

Michael Rubenstein has just published his seminal annual lecture, 'Key Cases for 2006'. In it, he summarises the 51 impending cases before the appellate courts this year, including 10 before the House of Lords and 12 before the European Court of...

Thanks to Gaby Charing, policy adviser on discrimination and employment law to the Law Society's Law Reform and Legal Policy Team, for sending me a copy of this letter from the Employment Tribunal Service As subscribers will know, employment tribunals...

The EAT has handed down a judgment (worth reading for the gentle lampooning of Liverpool in the opening paragraph!) dealing with disparity of treatment between employees when dismissing. It is well established that a dismissal is likely to be unfair if the...

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006  have been published. No big surprises after the draft (apart from removal of the professional services exemption from the new 'service provision change' concept). Here...

The EAT has just placed a new 'starred' judgment on its website, indicating a judgment of particular importance to practitioners. It is one of the last decisions of Burton P. during his tenure as president. The employer, NSM Music Ltd., missed the...

The TUPE Regs aren't even out yet on the internet (although many people have obtained possession of the version laid before parliament on Tuesday), and already the first error has been spotted! Thanks to John Clinch of Unison for spotting this one... ...

The DTI has now published a summary of the responses received to its TUPE consultation papaer. You can see a copy (.pdf file) here. The final version of the Regulations were laid before Parliament on Tuesday (7th). They are expected to be published on...

The Court of Appeal has, this morning, handed down an important judgment dealing with the valuation of claims brought under the Commercial Agents  (Council Directive) Regulations 1993. These Regulations (which, over a decade on, many people remain...

What to do when a tribunal member falls asleep? It's been established for some time (see, for example, Stansbury v Datapulse) that a decision can be set aside if a member of the tribunal appears to be asleep. But matters now go further. In ...

The Court of Session has, today, handed down an interesting judgment dealing with whether employers can rely on a written warning which has expired. Mr Thomson worked in a chemical factory. He was well aware that failure to comply with important health...

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (Lady Smith presiding) has handed down a starred judgment (i.e. a judgment of particular importance) dealing with compensation for failure to consult under TUPE. It held that tribunals should adopt the same approach when...

The DTI has, this afternoon, published the new draft Maternity and Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006; and Flexible Working (Eligibility, Complaints and Remedies)(Amendment) Regulations...

Acas has prepared a nine-minute online video, explaining how its conciliation process works. It's a really useful resource, particularly for Claimants, to put their minds at ease as to how the Acas conciliation process works. Please note: the link below...

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, which were widely expected to be published today, are not quite ready... In the meantime, the DTI has published its official guidance on the new TUPE regulations. The main changes in...

A detailed commentary and analysis of the new laws, written by Daniel Barnett and Kate Palka. Spanning over 150 pages, the commentary explains how the new laws will work, highlighting practical difficulties and setting out arguments on both sides when the...

The DTI has published 248 of the responses it received to its consultation paper on the draft  Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. A further 143 respondees asked that their responses remain confidential. Winner of the 'most apt name for a...

The House of Lords has, this morning, delivered its opinion in Serco v Lawson (and associated appeals). The issue relates to the territorial scope of the right not to be unfairly dismissed. Section 196(3) of the  Employment Rights Act 1996 , which...

The EAT has handed down an esoteric case on the construction of rule 25 of the Employment Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure etc.) Regulations 2004. Under rule 25, a Claimant can withdraw his case at any time. If the Respondent chooses, it can...

Another example of the EAT overturning a default judgment when the tribunal declined to do so. As subscribers will know, a Response has to be entered within 28 days, or the tribunal may enter default judgment against the Respondent. On day 27, the...

The Court of Appeal has, this morning, handed down its judgment in the case of  Hawley v Luminar Leisure Ltd.. Mr Hawley was visiting a nightclub when one of the doormen hit him so hard he fell to the floor and suffered serious and permanent brain...

The Occupational Pension Schemes (Early Leavers: Cash Transfer Sums and Contribution Refunds) Regulations 2006  have been laid before Parliament today. They provide that, where a member of an occupational pension scheme leaves the scheme with at...

A new decision from the Employment Appeal Tribunal, providing an example of when mutuality of obligation can exist despite no express obligation on the 'employee' to do anything! Mr Younis was engaged to generate sales for a three year period,...

Yet another decision on statutory grievances, this time dealing with the issue of whether a questionnaire under the Equal Pay Act 1970 can constitute a statement of grievance. Under regulation 14 of the Dispute Resolution Regulations, statutory...