The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has published a report today calling for a radical overhaul of the rules on maternity leave to give small businesses greater clarity regarding the intentions of employees returning to work. Audrey Williams, head of discrimination at international law firm Eversheds, comments:
“The coalition has promised a new system of flexible [...]

Leslie Seldon a partner who sued his own firm of Kent solicitors when he was compulsorily retired at 65, has lost his age discrimination case at the Court of Appeal. Audrey Williams, partner and head of discrimination at international law firm Eversheds comments:
“Although the Court of Appeal’s judgment provides welcome clarification of some aspects [...]

Comments made in Parliament by Theresa May, Minister for Women and Equalities, suggest that regulations introduced by the Labour government to extend paternity leave for fathers could be postponed and, ultimately, rewritten by the Coalition.
The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010, which were made just three weeks before Parliament was dissolved for the general election, give [...]

Managers should look to employ personnel from a range of age groups in order to build the strongest and most adaptable workforces.
This is the opinion of Rachel Krys, campaign director for the Employers Forum on Age, who said prejudice against older demographics “is a problem”.
She remarked: “Although age discrimination legislation has gone quite a long [...]

A recent press release issued by the Government Equalities Office dampened speculation that the coalition Government might delay implementing Labour’s flagship Equality Act 2010. Despite this, Audrey Williams, partner and head of discrimination law at international law firm Eversheds, questions whether the press release tells the full story:
“It is clear from the GEO statement [...]

Victims of discrimination in a place of business should not have to suffer quietly, but must ensure the issue is resolved by speaking to senior management members, according to one expert.
Mind’s policy and campaigns manager Emma Mamo suggested that allowing employees to continued to feel victimised and carry out stressful workplace tasks while enduring a [...]

Nadia Eweida is reported to be considering taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights, after the Supreme Court refused to give her permission to appeal against the decision that her employer had not discriminated against her on religious grounds in refusing to allow her to wear a cross visibly at work.
Audrey Williams, [...]

The coalition government is to introduce provisions for UK companies to make it more straightforward to comply with employment law regarding discrimination from October.
Yesterday (July 5th), the Government Equalities Office announced that the Equality Act will bring nine separate pieces of regulation into one act in order to simplify matters and reduce the burden on [...]

Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement that those wanting to claim Disability Living Allowance (DLA) will have to undergo medical assessments to verify their handicap has been criticised as adding unnecessary stress.
Writing for the Guardian, economy expert Rhydian Fon James said that fraudulent recipients count for 0.05 per cent of all DLA claims and there is no [...]

In the build up to his presentation at September’s Stress Prevention & Mental Wellbeing Forum, Guy Hollebon, Director and Head of Employment at Bevans, offers insights into managing sickness absence through answering what sort of policies should we have in place, what to do when advice from the GP and Occupation Health conflict, how to [...]