23 April, 2013
If like me you're a fan of "Today in Parliament" on late night
Radio 4 you'll have heard last night that the House of Lords have,
yet again kicked the Growth and
19 April, 2013
Now that the dust has settled on the unsuccessful Employment
Tribunal claim brought by a former winner of BBC's the Apprentice
Stella English it is worth reflecting on what we mean when
12 March, 2013
Are covert recordings of conversations between a claimant and
her managers and colleagues admissible in evidence before the
employment tribunal in a claim for discrimination? Possibly, says
the EAT in Vaughan v London
6 February, 2013
From 1 February 2013, new compensation limits for unfair
dismissal complaints are in place:
The maximum unfair dismissal compensatory award increases from
£72,300 to £74,200.
The maximum week's pay (for basic awards and statutory
redundancy
16 January, 2013
Has the European Court of Human Rights given employers a heavy
cross to bear, following the judgement issued yesterday in the case
of Eweida and others v The United Kingdom.
In a landmark
9 January, 2013
When the employee refuses to accept it, or so says the Supreme
Court in a recent judgement in the case of Societe Generale, London
Branch v Geys.
In a judgement that will have
19 December, 2012
Readers of the blog will recall that discussion has been ongoing
in government circles for some time about the pretty onerous
obligations imposed where an employer proposes to dismiss by reason
of redundancy
20 November, 2012
Unless you have been living on a desert island for the last few
years, you will be aware of the general unease with which employers
and HR professionals view the actions of
16 November, 2012
The Court of Appeal has ruled that an employee dismissed for
issuing irregular and invalid train tickets for personal gain could
not invoke human rights law in support of her claim for
31 October, 2012
Sadly, the revelations about Jimmy Savile in recent weeks bring
home to all of us the importance of making sure that unacceptable
behaviour in the workplace is tackled. Employers have a particular
responsibility
9 October, 2012
Yesterday the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne
announced plans for a new 'owner-employee' contract to be
introduced in April 2013.
The plans involve workers exchanging some of their UK employment
rights for rights
1 October, 2012
The government's auto-enrolment for pension schemes comes into
force today and is intended to improve standards of living for
millions of people when they retire. The scheme which ministers are
calling "the biggest
14 September, 2012
Today, Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled the
Coalitions' latest plans for the deregulation of UK employment law.
Key points to note are consultation on reducing the maximum
compensation for unfair dismissal from
4 September, 2012
Today several conjoined cases will be heard by the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, brought by claimants
Macfarlane, Eweida, Chaplin and Ladele. Keen followers of
developments in this area will recall
3 September, 2012
Each year, the Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the
volume and category of claims being processed by the Employment
Tribunal Service and the latest from earlier in the year make for
interesting
18 July, 2012
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
today promotes a briefing paper produced jointly with the Institute
for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the TUC revealing some
fascinating insight into the differences
13 July, 2012
It's been a busy week in the world of employment law.
Today, the Ministry of Justice published its much anticipated
response to the consultation on charging fees in Employment
Tribunal and the Employment
2 July, 2012
Late last year the Government issued a call for evidence on the
current regime that regulates how employers engage with their
workforces when large scale redundancies are anticipated.
That exercise produced the not
21 June, 2012
A gap in the law relating to workers rights in relation to
sickness and holiday entitlements has been closed in a judgement
issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
1 June, 2012
Behind the very human tragedy of the Baby P case in 2007, a
number of interesting employment law cases have arisen. The
most famous of these was of course the dismissal of
23 May, 2012
The Government has today published draft legislation to
introduce a number of reforms to Employment Tribunals.
Although there are a number of initiatives that employers will
welcome, there is a significant sting in
21 May, 2012
Some interesting news coverage today following Business
Secretary Vince Cable's response to the anticipated proposals to be
made by Adrian Beecroft on Employment Rights. Beecroft, a
venture capitalist and donor to the conservative
18 May, 2012
This week is Workwise week, now in its seventh year http://www.workwiseuk.org/workwiseweek/
and in case you weren't aware today is actually national "Work from
Home Day". Despite the negative press about civil servants
9 May, 2012
ANDY COULSON, the former News of the World editor and David
Cameron's former Director of Communications, has now been granted
permission to appeal against a High Court decision that News Group
Newspapers (NGN)
2 May, 2012
English football fans no doubt felt a degree of relief this week
(tinged perhaps with a little surprise!) that Roy Hodgson has been
given the top job in English football and the
25 April, 2012
This morning, the Supreme Court dispelled one of the employment
law myths that existed after the repeal of the Statutory Retirement
Age of 65. The Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that employers
can still
13 April, 2012
The recent news that Mothercare is to close over 100 stores in
the UK is unlikely to put a spring in the step of the 700 employees
whose jobs will now be
12 April, 2012
On Friday 6 April the Government increased the statutory
qualifying service period for unfair dismissal claims from one year
to two years; a move that is part of its ongoing review of
20 March, 2012
Last week the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
issued a Call for Evidence with a view to establishing if there is
a need to simplify existing dismissal processes. To that end
it
16 March, 2012
Discrimination on the ground of marital status is not a new
concept, but two recent conflicting decisions of the EAT have
created doubt as to what will constitute discrimination on the
ground of
7 March, 2012
The Court of Appeal in England in a case called Crawford and
another v Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust [2012] EWCA
Civ 138 has recently held that failures in a disciplinary
2 March, 2012
Sadly, administration and insolvency are in the news again, this
time as a result of the problems facing Rangers Football
Club. In this situation, despite any allegiances you may have
on the terraces,
14 February, 2012
Solicitor Robert Phillips secures coveted
benchmark.
Robert Phillips, Solicitor in Simpson & Marwick's Employment
Department, has recently been awarded the Signet Accreditation in
Employment Law at a prestigious ceremony in the Signet Library on
Wednesday
14 February, 2012
The territorial scope of the Employment Rights Act 1996 has been
the subject of litigation in the highest courts in the UK for some
years. The Act is silent on its geographical
1 February, 2012
The financial cost and consequences of Tribunal proceedings are
currently under the Government's microscope as it consults
interested parties on the proposed introduction of a system of fees
that will be payable by
23 January, 2012
Investigations are the foundation of a fair dismissal
procedure. One recent example of a flawed investigation going
under the Tribunal's microscope is Industrial
and Municipal Projects Ltd v Boyle.
In that case, serious flaws
19 January, 2012
An article has suggested that employers who use social media
sites like facebook and twitter for information about potential
employees could be at risk of a legal action, that is not my
21 December, 2011
New compensation limits have been confirmed by the Government
and will take effect in February 2012.
The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will rise to
£72,300, from the current maximum of £68,400.
8 November, 2011
Recent statistics suggest that the age demographics of the
workforce in Scotland may be changing. In particular, the number of
18 - 24 year olds claiming job-seekers allowance has doubled in
many local
26 September, 2011
There have been a number of cases decided at both UK and
European level over recent times leaving many confused about the
interaction between holiday pay and sickness absence. One of
the issues
22 September, 2011
It can be tempting for an employer, when hearing that their
employee who is off on sick leave is working for another employer,
to automatically jump to the conclusion that the employee
8 September, 2011
Simpson & Marwick Employment team are delighted to launch
our Employment Law Exchange Blog. This forum is dedicated to
stimulating discussions around practical issues and future insights
with fellow peers in our field.
19 February, 2013
Oil & Gas sector employers will be able to fast track the
recruitment of foreign nationals for even more specialist posts as
recent news suggests. On Friday 15 February 2013, the
Migration Advisory
24 December, 2012
There are a number of proposals that are likely to come to
fruition that overall are likely to reduce the risks employers
face. Not all will do so, however, and the law
12 April, 2012
Important new rules on Unfair Dismissal qualifying service came
into force on 6 April.
On Friday 6 April, the Government increased the statutory
qualifying service period for unfair dismissal claims from one year
to
16 February, 2012
The territorial scope of the protections available for being
unfairly dismissed contained in Section 94(1) of the Employment
RightsAct 1996 have been a matter of some contention.
The provisions in Section 94(1) of
17 January, 2012
Simpson & Marwick's employment law team now has five
partners following latest hires.
Simpson & Marwick is delighted to announce the Partner
appointments to our expanding Employment law team of Robert King
from HBJ
7 December, 2011
The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the employers in the
case of Russell v Transocean.
The unions had argued that holidays must always be taken from
time that would otherwise be
14 November, 2011
When is an employee on long-term sickness absence entitled to be
paid for annual leave?
This is an area of law where there continues to be confusion -
not only among HR professionals
29 September, 2011
Three significant changes to employment law come into effect on
1 October.
Agency Workers Regulations
These Regulations will come into force on 1 October 2011. This
is an important change which those using agency
22 September, 2011
Last week, the Employment Appeal Tribunal ('EAT') shed light on
the steps an employer can take when seeking to vary 470 staff
contracts, and the impact this has on any subsequent dismissal
