In the recent case of Stevenson and others v Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust the respondent had undertaken a restructure which had resulted in three Head of HR role being made redundant. The three employees occupying the redundant roles were offered alternative employment as HR Leads. When they refused these roles, the respondent refused to pay them a redundancy payment. The respondent alleged that they had unreasonably refused their offer of suitable alternative employment so had forfeited their right to a statutory redundancy payment under section 141 Employment Rights Act 1996.
In the recent case of Mullen v Greater Glasgow Health Board the claimant was dismissed from his role as supervisor for gross misconduct after an investigation found that he had threatened a fellow employee. The tribunal held that the respondent had carried out a full investigation and held a reasonable belief that the claimant had committed an act of misconduct but they nevertheless found that the dismissal was unfair. This was on the basis that the tribunal had its own ideas as to what the real reason for dismissal was.
Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), whenever there is a relevant transfer (typically either a business transfer or a service provision change (outsourcing or insourcing)) from one business (the transferor) to another (the transferee), the employment of any assigned employees will move across to the transferee. All rights and obligations under or in connection with the contract of employment will also transfer to the transferee. Usually, these rights and obligations are easy to establish and continue – they will be set out in the relevant contracts of employment. However, in the recent case of Ponticelli v Gallagher the Scottish Court of Session was asked to decide whether the right to participate in a share incentive plan (SIP) which a transferring employee had been a member of prior to transfer and which was not referred to in the relevant employment contract, transferred to the transferee following a TUPE transfer.
The recent fast-paced developments in artificial intelligence (spearheaded by ChatGPT) has had workers across a wide variety of sectors looking nervously over their shoulders and considering the long-term impact this technology is likely to have on job security. In some areas, including administrative tasks and customer service, the impact is already clear to see. In others, it has, seemingly, yet to bite.
The government has announced plans to triple the maximum fine it can impose on employers who are found to have employed a person who does not have the right to work in the UK. Increased penalties are set to commence in early 2024. Fines for employers who employ illegal workers will increase from £15,000 to £45,000 for a first offence and from £20,000 to £60,000 per breach for repeat offenders.
When employment tribunal cases are heard by a full tribunal (an employment judge sitting with two lay members) as is the case in discrimination, whistleblowing and equal pay claims, there is the possibility that a majority judgment can be reached in which the lay members ‘out-vote’ the employment tribunal judge. This happened in the recent case of Miss C L Hampson v CSC Computer Science Limited.
The Supreme Court has recently handed down its judgment in the case of Chief Constable of Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew.
The Claimants were police officers and civilian staff working for the police in Northern Ireland. They brought claims for underpayment of holiday pay after having historically received basic pay only during periods of annual leave. The parties agreed that there had been an underpayment and that holiday pay should have been calculated to include periods of compulsory overtime. The issue before the Supreme Court was how far back the Claimants were entitled to go with their claim.
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act has now come into force. The Act aims to set-out the road-map for how EU-derived case law and legislation will be used after the supremacy of EU Law in the UK ends on 31 December 2023.
This is our latest update as the introduction of a “fixed costs” regime for most civil court disputes, where the disputed amount is over £10,000 up to £100,000, draws ever nearer.
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In the recent case of Stevenson and others v Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust the respondent had undertaken a restructure which had resulted in three Head of HR role being made redundant. The three employees occupying the redundant roles were offered alternative employment as HR Leads. When they refused these roles, the respondent refused to pay them a redundancy payment. The respondent alleged that they had unreasonably refused their offer of suitable alternative employment so had forfeited their right to a statutory redundancy payment under section 141 Employment Rights Act 1996.