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Bermans welcomes partner duo
Bermans has added two new partners to its growing team.
Employment partner Sarah Collier and litigation specialist Sarah Wellicome.
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EAT confirms that future claims can be settled by settlement agreement
Adrian Fryer
Employers who wish to avoid the risk of employment claims from departing employees are able to enter into a settlement agreement under which employment claims are settled.
Continue ReadingEmployee awarded almost £90,000 for associative discrimination
Employees are protected under Equality Act 2010 from being treated less favourably because of a disability (section 13 Equality Act 2010). The disability doesn’t have to be the employee’s disability. It can be the disability of another person. If an employer treats an employee less favourably because of the disability of another person (normally, but not necessarily, someone ‘associated’ with the employee), this will be direct disability discrimination – known as ‘associative discrimination’.
Continue ReadingChanging employee’s travel requirements was unlawful sex discrimination
Adrian Fryer
The requirement to travel for a job is usually something that is made clear at the start of employment. Each party knows where they stand. But what happens if an employer’s expectations for employee travel change?
Continue ReadingContractual terms between employer and perk provider couldn’t be used to end perk for employees
Adrian Fryer
Employers often provide benefits to employees which are not directly administered by the employer themselves. They use third-party providers instead. Private Health Insurance and Company cars are good examples of this. The employer will state in the employment contract that the employee is entitled to the named benefit. The employer will then have a separate commercial agreement with the benefit provider which facilitates this. The employee will not be party to this agreement and will often be entirely unaware of it.
Continue ReadingTribunal correct to order disclosure of unredacted document containing financial information
Adrian Fryer
Disclosure is the part of tribunal proceedings where each party — employee and employer — provides the other with a list of all the documents relevant to the issues in the claim. The employment tribunals have adopted the civil court rules in respect of disclosure and inspection of documents. Rule 31.6 of the Civil Procedure Rules requires a party to disclose the documents on which he relies, or which adversely affect his own or another party’s case and those which support any other party’s case.
Continue ReadingEmployment Appeal Tribunal emphasises importance of consulting about proposed pool for selection in redundancy cases
Adrian Fryer
Employers who need to make only a small number of redundancies must make sure that their consultation process doesn’t end up being a ‘tick box’ exercise.
Continue ReadingWhether an employee is disabled must be assessed at point acts of alleged discrimination occurred
Adrian Fryer
To bring a claim for disability discrimination, an employee must be able to show that they (or someone they are associated with) is disabled. At what point in time is an assessment of disability made? In Ahmed v DWP, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal had erred by assessing whether the Claimant was a disabled person using a three-day date window. The discrimination allegations spanned several years.
Continue ReadingEmployers should be careful about how they behave after an employee resigns
Adrian Fryer
If an employee submits their resignation to their employer, then this is a clear indication that the employment relationship is coming to an end. For whatever reason, the employee is moving on. Unless the employee is resigning because of some historic poor behaviour or discrimination on the part of the employer, the risk of claims is low.
Continue ReadingSexual harassment
Adrian Fryer
Sexual harassment can take several different forms. It can refer to unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. This is what most people understand by the term. Under Equality Act 2010, the term also has a wider meaning. It incorporates unwanted conduct which occurs because a person has either rejected or accepted the sexual advances of another.
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