Category: "news"
Purely thrilled!
We are delighted to confirm that yet again we have been recognised as a top firm in the 2019 edition of Chambers & Partners, the UK's guide to the legal profession. In addition, Peter and Nicola have both again been rated as 'notable practitioners' in employment law. The Chambers guides... read more »
Individuals can be personally liable for whistleblowing claims
It has been the case for a long time that individuals can be held personally liable for acts of discrimination, so (for example) a manager who refuses to promote a woman because of her pregnancy can be named as a Respondent in her Employment Tribunal claim for discrimination, alongside... read more »
Can you make someone redundant when they are off sick?
I thought I would write about this topic as it is something that has cropped up (by coincidence) with several of my employer clients over the past few weeks. In particular, we have come across several situations where the employee avoids attending consultation meetings, is then signed off work... read more »
The importance of a fair procedure
The test of whether or not a dismissal is fair or unfair in law is set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996. This provides that it is for the employer to show that they dismissed the employee for one of the potentially fair reasons (conduct, capability, redundancy, breach... read more »
After the after-party - vicarious liability
It’s been nearly 2 years since we first reported on the case of Bellman v Northampton Recruitment in our article, ‘Christmas time, fisticuffs and wine’. In summary, the case related to a managing director who assaulted one of his employees at a spontaneous after-party which followed the work... read more »
Why appeals are absolutely crucial
Employees often say that they feel appeals are a bit of a waste of time, and it is true that in our experience the vast majority of appeals result in the original decision being upheld. However, a recent case illustrated that whatever the outcome, they can play a very... read more »
What Not to Ask at Interview!
A recent survey of 2,000 managers who have responsibility for interviewing found that 85% of them admitted to having asked inappropriate questions of a candidate at interview. Can you be sure that managers at your organisation wouldn't do the same? While it is of course important that line managers are... read more »
Don't let your company vehicle policy drive you round the bend!
The recent Employment Tribunal case of Genus and Kelly v Fortem Solutions Ltd involved two employees who carried out property repairs and who were each given company vans. Both were long serving employees with prior clean disciplinary records, but were dismissed for gross misconduct for using company vans for private purposes. Fortem... read more »
The importance of equal treatment
No, I don't mean equal treatment in terms of discrimination and the Equality Act (although that is important too of course!), but rather the importance of consistency when dealing with disciplinary issues. Common sense says that if you have more than one person misbehaving in a similar manner then, in... read more »
References - useful guidance for employers
The question of references is still a thorny one for many employers. In a large proportion of the cases we deal with, references tend to be limited to the basic factual information (start date, end date, job title). This is often because employers don’t want to risk being sued... read more »