“As technology becomes more sophisticated, so do the challenges faced by employers. A seemingly common query relates to the legality of covert recordings made by employees of face to face meetings with managers or colleagues on smart phones or tablets.”
Technology Law Update, 15th March 2013
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
“The Government has set out plans to ‘streamline’ the employment tribunal system, which will include a new power to ‘strike out’ claims with little chance of success before they proceed to a full hearing.”
OUT-LAW.com, 18th March 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“Employment tribunals are to become the ‘last resort, not the first port of call’ after the government’s announcement today that it has accepted proposals in a fundamental review of procedure for tribunals.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 14th March 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Perry v Nursing and Midwifery Council [2013] EWCA Civ 145; [2013] WLR (D) 88
“Fairness did not require that a respondent to an allegation of unfitness to practise his profession had to be given an opportunity to give evidence as to the substance of that allegation before a tribunal considering whether to make an interim suspension order or other interim order under a legislative scheme, such as that contained in the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, since that was not what the statutory scheme envisaged or what fairness required at the interim stage. Guidance was given as to the procedure to be followed by a committee, considering whether to make an interim order pending the substantive hearing of a complaint against a member of the profession, in order to satisfy the fairness requirement.”
WLR Daily, 28th February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“A dinner lady told a child’s parents that their daughter had been tied to a fence and whipped with a skipping rope by some other pupils, repeated the same to the press and then was dismissed for breach of confidentiality and acting in a manner likely to bring the school into disrepute. An employment tribunal found the dismissal procedurally unfair but dismissed her whistleblowing claim and reduced her compensation for unfair dismissal on the grounds of Polkey and for contributory fault. The tribunal did not, however, determine the question of whether the claimant could lawfully be disciplined for ‘telling tales out of school’ (as it put it).”
Employment Law Blog, 27th February 2013
Source: www.employment11kbw.com
“In R (on the application of Prudential Plc and another) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and another [2013] UKSC 1 a majority of the Supreme Court held that legal advice privilege does not extend to protect legal advice given by professionals who are not lawyers and that it is for Parliament, not the courts, to decide whether and how the privilege should be extended.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 19th February 2013
“Employees who ‘blow the whistle’ on bad behaviour by bosses can still take advantage of legal protections even after the employment relationship has ended, a tribunal has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 25th February 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“You can say what you like about local authorities – and people do, knowing that the authority itself (as opposed to any individual member or employee) cannot sue in defamation. This was first established back in 1891 in Manchester Corporation v Williams [1891] 1 Q.B. 94, where it was held that the council could not complain about a letter to a newspaper alleging that ‘bribery and corruption have existed and done their nefarious work’ in a number of its departments.”
Education Law Blog, 22nd February 2013
Source: www.education11kbw.com
“Whistleblowers are to be protected from harassment and bullying from co-workers after criticism that current legislation fails to protect those who speak out.”
The Guardian, 21st February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has found that the use of bad language was evidently merely an expression of bad temper and not intended to express hostility to the Pope or Catholicism and that it did not constitute harassment within the meaning of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 20th February 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“An employment tribunal hearing the first claim for unfair dismissal on the grounds of caste discrimination has collapsed after information handed to the judge by police led the judge to recuse herself from the case.”
The Guardian, 14th February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A school dinner lady who was unfairly sacked after telling a seven-year-old girl’s parents that their daughter had been tied to a fence and hit with a skipping rope has won her two-year battle for compensation.”
Daily Telegraph, 12th February 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Supreme Court, 6th February 2013
O’Cathail v Transport for London [2013] EWCA Civ 21; [2013] WLR (D) 31
“An employment tribunal’s decision to refuse a claimant’s application to adjourn a hearing could not be set aside by the Employment Appeal Tribunal unless the tribunal had erred in law.”
WLR Daily, 29th January 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“There were some statistics that private equity pioneer Adrian Beecroft did not include in his highly controversial report on employment law published last year. The number of claims brought by employees in employment tribunals fell from 236,000 in 2009-10 to 186,000 in 2011-12. The number of claims for both sex and age discrimination has almost halved. And the median award for most types of claim remains low, at around £5,000 (two months’ average pay). Given that these figures relate to a period of acute economic turbulence, they are counterintuitive.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 28th January 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Five police forces are to be taken to an employment tribunal accused of age discrimination.”
BBC News, 23rd January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A tribunal’s refusal to allow the constructive dismissal claim of a Christian care worker who was required to work on Sundays does not establish that Sunday working will never amount to indirect religious discrimination, an expert has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 14th January 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“What changes can workers expect from their employers in the coming year? Employment law expert Edward Goodwyn of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, looks ahead to some significant changes.”
OUT-LAW.com, 4th January 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
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