Employment Law News
Labour Party pledge a new minimum wage and rights for all staff from day one
The leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, has promised to overhaul workers' rights including raising the minimum wage to £10 an hour and banning fire and rehire practices. Addressing a TUC conference on Tuesday, Mr. Starmer outlined various policies, as part...
Morrisons slashes sick pay for unvaccinated employees
Morrisons, the UK’s fourth largest supermarket, is set to cut sick pay for unvaccinated workers who need to self-isolate. The company has justified the decision by saying that the intention is to encourage vaccine uptake, but also to mitigate the “biblical costs” of...
Working mother wins £185,000 after employer refuses to accommodate childcare needs
An estate agent has won a sex discrimination case after her employer refused to accommodate her need to work shorter hours to pick up her daughter from nursery. Alice Thompson told an employment tribunal that she wanted to leave the office at 5pm, rather than the...
National Insurance contributions set to rise by 1.25 percentage points
In order to fund social care, from April 2022, National Insurance contributions (NICs) will rise by 1.25 percentage points for employers and staff alike. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a hike in NI contributions that will be paid out by employers and...
National Minimum Wage breaches put businesses at risk of hefty fines
New research warns that firms could be inadvertently putting themselves at risk of fines after breaking National Minimum Wage laws. Grant Thompson UK, an accountancy firm, states that it has seen a marked rise in the number of companies being investigated for...
Business Secretary rejects using skilled workers visas to ease staff shortages
Following a letter written by Logistics UK and British Retail Consortium, the Business Secretary has responded by rejecting calls to utilise skilled workers visas to help ease staff shortages. Kwasi Kwarteng, Business Secretary, has stated that HGV drivers from...
Porsche salesman wins unfair dismissal claim after facing racist remarks
An Employment Tribunal has ruled in favour of a salesman of Asian descent who worked at a Porsche dealership after it was found this employee was subject to racist taunts and abuse from fellow colleagues. A Porsche dealership salesman, Shailesh Rathod, has won an...
Changing laws to protect women going through menopause “not ruled out”
The Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee states that menopause could potentially become a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. MP and Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Caroline Nokes, has said changing legislation to protect and support...
HM Courts & Tribunals Service charged £12.5 million after incorrect IR35 determinations
Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service is facing a £12.5 million bill after making the wrong IR35 assessments for its contracted staff. Following costly tax bills imposed on the Department of Work and Pensions as well as the Home Office, HM Courts and...
Temporary visas and skills reform needed to remedy staff shortages, Business Secretary told
Amid a significant shortage of lorry drivers, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has been informed that providing the correct skills and training as well as instating temporary visas will support the recruitment of HGV drivers. ...
Employment Law Analysis
Laura Darnley: Visa solutions for the current candidate shortage
In July, the government released its 'UK Innovation Strategy', setting out the plans to make the UK a world-leader in technology, innovation and research by 2035. Crucially, the plan to situate tech, innovation and research at the centre of the UK’s economy will...
Nick Le Riche: Labour’s plans to create a single status of “worker”
Introduction At the end of last month, Labour announced proposals to extend a number of key employment rights and protections, such as statutory sick pay, national minimum wage entitlement, holiday pay, paid parental leave and protection from unfair dismissal to all...
Emma Clark: Employers need to wake up to the menopause
By next year, it is estimated that one in six of the British workforce will be women over the age of 50. These women will (if they have not already) go through the menopause at an average age of 51. The pre-menopause stage called peri-menopausal or transition occurs...
Andrew Secker: Can employers force staff back to the office post-COVID?
Many of us have been working from home (in whole or in part) since the UK’s first national lockdown in March 2020. Whilst the success and productivity of home working has rightly (and perhaps belatedly) removed some taboos about remote working, the longer term...
Suzanne Hurndall: Building a Right to Disconnect policy into your culture
Trade unions have been heavily criticising the Government for back peddling on their promise for better worker rights following the absence in the recent Queen’s speech of a long-awaited Employment Bill and, included within this, a Right to Disconnect clause. The call...
Alan Price: Can employers restrict staff from taking foreign holiday?
The UK government has relaxed restrictions for visiting a handful of countries under a new traffic light system including places such as Australia, New Zealand and Iceland. Those returning to England from nations on the green list will need to take a pre-departure...
Beverley Sunderland: Is your employee legally covered to work from home?
Following Deloitte’s recent report that one in four employees hope to work from home permanently, and not return to the office, it is important that businesses recognise their continuing obligations even when employees are not working in an office. Whilst it may be an...
James Tamm: ‘Fire and Rehire’ – What do employers need to know?
With flexible furlough set to finish at the end of September, there is a real risk that if the government doesn’t release additional funding to businesses, then ‘fire and rehire’ is likely to become more widespread. Companies may struggle to afford to keep staff on...
Daniel Stander: Is it lawful for employees to take on a second job?
The news coverage of the Greensill scandal and “double-hatting” in the Civil Service has raised serious questions around taking on second jobs. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic will have driven many employees into taking on additional jobs, whether due to...
Rhona Darbyshire: The Expansion of Remote Working Rights
The trial run of remote and flexible working that the workforce has experienced over the last year has undoubtedly caused attitudes towards working to change drastically. Home working and flexible working hours have become “the new normal” and for many large...
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