Employment and pensions for public sector

Legal Update - Shared Insights

Shared Insights: Looking ahead to 2023 – what Health and Care employers need to know

Opinion

Rising Employment Tribunal backlog

Opinion

Menopause and the NHS workforce addressing the female brain drain…

Opinion

4-day working week a success?

Legal Update

Coming of age

Official statistics show that 15,336 claims which included a complaint of age discrimination were received at the Employment Tribunals between March 2020 and March 2021.

Opinion

BMA advises consultants not to accept less than the BMA minimum rate card for extra-contractual work

The BMA is advising all NHS / HSCNI consultants to ensure extra-contractual work is paid at the BMA minimum recommended rate and to decline offers of extra-contractual work that doesn't value them appropriately.

Opinion

Rising wages ahead

In the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November, rises to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates were announced, to take effect from 1 April 2023.

Opinion

World Cup 2022 – how employers can avoid scoring an own goal!

The World Cup kicks off in Qatar on Sunday 20 November 2022, with the final taking place on Sunday 18 December 2022. Undoubtedly, this is a huge sporting event, and many employees will be keen to show their support for their favourite teams. However, due to the time difference, start times for the matches are between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. UK time, which could have an impact on employers if employees who wish to watch the matches are scheduled to work.

Legal Update

Settlement agreements – what are the limitations?

Settlement agreements are commonplace in an employment context and are ordinarily used to provide the parties to the agreement with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship.

Legal Update

IR35 rules here to stay after government U-turn

A few weeks ago we brought you news that following the Government’s mini-budget it was confirmed that the off-payroll working rules (known as “IR35”) put in place for public and private sector businesses from 2017 and 2021 would be scrapped from April 2023.

Legal Update

Redundancy consultation and selection concerning expiry of a fixed term contract – EAT put the spotlight onto a ‘selection pool of one’

In Mogane v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether it was fair to dismiss a nurse as redundant on the basis that that her fixed-term contract was due to expire before that of her colleague.

Opinion

Lying on your CV – what can possibly go wrong?

The majority of people do not feel the need to embellish their CV to get that coveted position and move on up the career ladder. Their worthiness and benefit to the hiring organisation are easily demonstrated through the recruitment process – application, psychometric testing, selection day or interview.

Opinion

Internal reports and privilege

In University of Dundee v Chakraborty, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether a first draft of a grievance report could retrospectively be deemed to be privileged.

Opinion

IR35 rules to be scrapped from April 2023

The Chancellor’s recent mini-budget provided a significant announcement for business as it was confirmed that the off-payroll working rules (known as “IR35”) put in place for public and private sector businesses from 2017 and 2021 will be scrapped from April 2023.

Opinion

Revoking and reforming EU law

The Government has published the Retained EU Revocation and Reform Bill which, if passed, provides for the revocation of all “EU-derived subordinate legislation” (i.e. UK statutory instruments which were introduced to implement EU law) and retained direct EU legislation on 31 December 2023, unless legislation is specifically introduced to save them.

Opinion

Unfavourable treatment

The Employment Appeal Tribunal’s recent decision in the case of Mr Michael Cowie & Others v Scottish Fire and Rescue Service provides a useful insight into favourable - or unfavourable - treatment in the context of discrimination claims.

Legal Update

Public sector exits – your chance to input to HM Treasury consultation

This month, HM Treasury issued a consultation on Administrative Control Process for Public Sector Exits with draft guidance. They’re proposing to introduce an expanded approvals process for employee exits and special severance payments, and additional reporting requirements. If approved, the proposals will impact public sector bodies and those that do not have a specific right to make exit payments.

Opinion

Covid-19 vaccine beliefs held to be religious in nature

In Wierowska v HC-One Oval Limited, the Employment Tribunal had to determine whether the Claimant’s beliefs in relation to Covid-19 vaccines amounted to religious beliefs for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

Opinion

Unions bowled over by strike legislation

As of 21 July, two separate pieces of legislation came into force which seeks to mitigate against strike action. It should come as no surprise that this is a direct response to the rail strikes, which have dominated the news in the last couple of months.

Legal Update

Gender Identity v Gender Beliefs

We have seen a flurry of recent EAT and ET decisions demonstrating the difficulty that employers face in trying to balance different protected characteristics in the workplace. In this article, Lucinda Chaplin and Will Carter, associates in our employment team, explore the principles from these recent cases, and the workplace implications of them.

Opinion

The Government confirms it has no plans to make menopause a protected characteristic

With menopause cases reaching Employment Tribunals at a record rate, there had been speculation about whether the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) could be amended to include specific protection for menopause.

Legal Update

Can long Covid amount to a disability?

On 7 May 2022, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) tweeted “Discussions continue on whether ‘long Covid’ symptoms constitute a disability. Without case law or scientific consensus, EHRC does not recommend that ‘long’ be treated as a disability.”

Opinion

Long Covid and whether this amounts to a disability

The recent Employment Tribunal decision in Mr T Burke v Turning Point Scotland, Case no.4112457/2021 found that long-Covid amounts to a disability.

Published Article

Menopause in the Workplace

Menopause has become an increasingly discussed topic, with high-profile women talking about their own experiences across a variety of media channels. As awareness is rising in the public arena, it has highlighted the question on how the menopause should be treated at work and what employers should be doing to support their employees affected by menopause.

Opinion

Bill to establish an “Office of the Whistleblower”

Baroness Kramer has now introduced the Protection of Whistleblowing Bill as a Private Members’ Bill, starting in the House of Lords.

Opinion

New mothers suffer a cumulative loss of income of £66,434 over the following decade

Independent think-tank, the Social Market Foundation (“SMF”), has launched a cross-party parliamentary commission on childcare and its implications for mothers.

Opinion

New rules for Fit Notes

Where employees are absent from work due to sickness for more than 7 days, they need to provide reasonable medical evidence in respect of that absence for statutory sick pay purposes – this is most frequently satisfied through the provision of a Statement of Fitness for Work, otherwise known as a Fit Note.

Opinion

80% hours for 100% pay? That’ll do nicely

As has been widely reported this week, some 3,000 UK workers are taking part in a six month trial to assess the viability of a four-day working week without any reduction in their normal pay.

On-Demand

The use and misuse of social media. Managing the impact of difficult behaviour

In this on-demand webinar, the second in our ‘Managing the impact of difficult behaviour’ series employment expert, James Tait and regulatory-specialist Ros Foster come together to discuss the use of social media and vexatious behaviour, and the tools that the law provides to help manage such situations.

Legal Update

Menstrual leave – a (period) pain for employers or a positive step to keep people who menstruate in the workplace?

Spain has recently approved draft legislation which proposes that workers who suffer from severe period pain should be entitled to 3-5 days’ medical leave per month, which would be paid for by the state. The legislation has not yet been passed, but if it is, then it would make Spain the first European country to provide a legal entitlement to menstrual leave.

Legal Update

Are there changes ahead in employment law?

The Queen’s Speech missed the long-promised Employment Bill, instead the Future of Work review and an inquiry was announced - what does this mean for employers?

Legal Update

Employment and Workforce Survey 2021: Blowing the whistle

Whistleblowing claims continue to grab headlines. We provide a recap of whistleblowing tribunal decisions from 2021 and looking ahead to possible changes in 2022.

Opinion

Four-day Working Week – the Future of Work?

In our Employment Survey 2021: Focus on Flexibility, we looked at a number of working developments including the notion of a four-day working week.