Quite often negotiations over settlement of a dispute between employer and employee through use of a Compromise Agreement can be carried on in a world of their own, “without prejudice”, and without attention being given to the actual...

The Effective Date of Termination (EDT) is not a particularly sexy employment law topic but establishing the actual date that an employee’s contract has come to an end can be very important. Usually, its greatest importance is in establishing the date...

In Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust the Court of Appeal has held that a claim for compensation can be recovered ( when an employer has conducted a disciplinary processin breach of its own contractual procedure. Mr...

  Ms Sturdy, was a senior NHS manager who missed promotion to  run a breast screening services. With 38 years previous experience in running a screening service she was in pole position. A colleague with 13 years her junior got the job. When...

Whistleblowing takes many forms and most of us associate it with high profile revelations by employees of globally branded companies or civil servants well placed to leak uncomfortable truths. Like most news that makes it into the media there lie behind...

  In a recent High Court case involving defections from one “inter-dealer” broker (Tullett) to another (BGC) battle royal was waged over a considerable number of issues. One of them related to a clause in the Tullett contract of...

    What should an employer do when an employee faces criminal prosecution and disciplinary action for the same matters? A recent decision demonstrates the difficulty for employers where an employee is in this situation. In March the...

A judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ( Bateman v Asda Stores Ltd )  in February confirms an employer’s right, if the right contractual provisions exist, to change employees' pay and work conditions without getting specific...

Acts of God or “unusual weather events” have already this year twice had a significant impact on people’s ability to get into work. Something similar is bound to happen again. Next time, perhaps, it will be too hot to travel or widespread...

  There has been much recent coverage in the media about the new “fit notes” designed to help get people back to work after or even during a sickness sooner than at present. To call the new notes “fit notes” is a misnomer: the...

With the effective abolition of slavery in the UK over 200 years ago it is somewhat disconcerting to find that that a new law has now been found necessary to prevent slavery but as from 6 April 2010 that is what has happened. A new offence of holding...

As an enthusiastic, but rather slow, cyclist and being keen that more people should take to the road on bikes I make little apology this week in peddling the government’s Cycle to Work Scheme as my news item. The fact that it impinges on employment...

No doubt reckoning to bury bad news amidst the turbulence of the Greek economic situation and its impact on the European economy, back-room lawyers at the Commission have issued a draft Directive On Even-Handedness. Its far-reaching consequences can only be...

Employees and employers need to know, respectively, what they can do to get time off for watching World Cup matches or to handle requests The first thing to remember is that all workers are entitled by law to a minimum of 28 days'...

The recent case of Small v The Boots Co Plc and Boots UK Ltd, demonstrates again that bonuses that may be called “discretionary” may not actually be discretionary but part of an employees entitlement. Some Boots warehouse employees were...

In an important decision last month the Court of Appeal held that an employer cannot ‘cure’ a repudiatory breach before an employee decides to treat it as the basis for resigning and claiming dismissal. Put another way, it will normally be too...

As anticipated in earlier postings on this site, an employment tribunal has now decided that  the Working Time Regulations 1998 can be interpreted to allow workers (which includes employees) to take annual leave ruined by sickness to be retaken in the...

  News that British business expects still more redundancies in coming months brings no cheer anywhere. We may have suffered fewer cuts in 2009 than might have been expected but that is partly due to constructive initiatives by employers to keep...

  News that British business expects still more redundancies in coming months brings no cheer anywhere. We may have suffered fewer cuts in 2009 than might have been expected but that is partly due to constructive initiatives by employers to keep...

Even if a worker stands to lose any unused holiday entitlement at the end of the leave year because they have failed to follow the rules ( Lyons v Mitie Security Ltd ) the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that workers must comply...

Every now and then a disaffected employee takes a claim of unlawful sex discrimination in matters of dress and appearance at work to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”). The most recent example of the genre involved a Mr Dansie, in a claim...

  The government is extending the right to request unpaid time off to cover employees who wish to undertake training or study. The right is only a right to request time off, not a right to have the time off. However, the request may have to be granted...

  In two recent decisions the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given helpful indications about what may be acceptable in age limit impositions in age discrimination cases. Neither case came form the UK but the decisions will impact on future UK...

  The Government has recently published draft Regulations to give temporary agency workers, after a 12-week qualifying period, the same basic working and employment conditions as apply to a permanent employee carrying out the same...

    A Compromise Agreement is frequently used to settle claims or potential claims by an employee against their employer. (see Services tab and dropdown list item Compromise Agreements). Provided that certain formalities are observed a...