The EAT has given judgment in an employment status claim which confirms that the ‘label’ that parties place on a working relationship is only one piece of the puzzle. Too much weight must not be given to that label if the reality of the relationship suggests something different. In Richards v Waterfield Homes and Unity Build and Repairs, the employee worked for the business as a skilled carpenter. At the time he was taken on, he was registered with the CIS as a contractor. CIS is a scheme where a sub-contractor can have 20 per cent, rather than 30 per cent, of earnings deducted and paid to HMRC in tax and NI (with a reckoning at the end of the year). The CIS scheme is an industry wide scheme where workers are treated as self-employed. All workers for the business were described as self-employed. The business switched the employee to an employment contract in 2018 after taking legal advice about ‘regularising’ contracts. The employee objected to the contract because it described him as an employee from 2018 rather than 2010 when he started working for the business..
If an employee wins a claim for unfair dismissal, a tribunal will decide what compensation is fair in the circumstances. The stakes are raised in a whistleblowing unfair dismissal because the statutory unfair dismissal compensation cap (currently £93,878 or a year’s gross pay, whichever is less) does not apply. Employees are required to ‘mitigate’ their losses by seeking employment elsewhere. If there are additional reasons why the employee in a whistleblowing case has not been able to secure alternative employment – because of stigma associate with the whistleblowing – they will need to provide evidence in support of that contention.
Dismissing an employee with a disability can seem risky but is not always unfair, even where the reason for dismissal is impacted by the disability. The EAT has recently upheld a tribunal’s findings that an employee’s dismissal was justified in a case where disability potentially impacted the behaviour for which she was dismissed. In Morgan v Buckinghamshire Council, the employee was a Supervising Social Worker. She was disabled with conditions including autism and dyslexia. She gave a child presents without prior authorisation, contrary to the employer’s code of conduct. She also included inappropriate case notes on the child’s file and failed to follow management instructions. The Local Authority Designated Officer said they didn’t need to get involved as the child was not harmed, but said the matter warranted investigation.
Exclusivity clauses are terms which prevent an employee from taking up work elsewhere or require an employee to ask permission before working for another business. These clauses have been unenforceable in zero hours contracts since 2015. From December 2022, they are also banned in contracts for low paid workers. ‘Low paid’ here means workers and employees whose net average weekly wage does not exceed the lower earnings limit, which is currently £123 per week.
Is it harassment to text a colleague in the wee small hours? Not accordingy to nkojihuy790- Mainali v New Godalming Sushi Limited. Mr Mainali was a sushi chef in business with a colleague, Mr Lohani, to provide sushi at Waitrose. Me Lohani was the main shareholder in the business. Relationships deteriorated. Mr Lohani sent a rota to staff on a group WhatsApp after midnight. Mr Mainali was furious, saying it was wrong to bother staff at that time of night. He told Mr Lohani to ‘go f*** yourself’.
In our autumn 2019 Briefing we welcomed the Law Commission’s final report on Electronic Execution of Documents and set out our views on certain practical matters including the crucial question of whether those documents requiring attestation of the primary signature by a witness necessitated the physical presence of the witness at the point of signature.
Our summary of the requirements for formalities of contracts likely to be encountered by invoice financiers referred to above also explains the circumstances in which certain contracts executed as deeds require formalities such as in some cases the presence of a witness.
As the era of unusually low interest rates comes to a close, it is worth paying attention to what rate of interest the courts are likely to allow in relation to successful financial claims.
Statue provides that in general terms once judgment has been granted in the English courts, interest of 8% per annum will be awarded on the judgment sum until it is paid.
Financiers have been, together with almost all other litigants, subject to what seems to be an ever-increasing spiral of expense in navigating the various fees and charges payable under the court system, a trend which is been in place now for almost 2 decades.
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