24TH March 2020 Further questions coming as a result of the current coronavirus crisis concern whether or not employers can ask employees to go to work during the new Lockdown.   As with so much at the present time there has been a lack of clarity. The position changed numerous...

This update is written and posted on Saturday 21st March 2020 and will quickly become out of date. We will endeavour to update it as soon as information becomes available. Yesterday, 20th March 2020, the Government announced a series of measures to assist employers and employees in the coming months...

Following our previous update, things are becoming a little clearer and the government is issuing guidance on things such as Statutory Sick Pay. In answer to a question we have been asked repeatedly over the last 24 hours, an employer CANNOT close and just pay all staff SSP. Closing the...

Following our previous update, things are becoming a little clearer and the government is issuing guidance on things such as Statutory Sick Pay. There continues to be a dilemma for some employers as to whether self isolation would entitle an employee to sick pay (whether contractual sick pay or SSP)....

ADVICE FOR EMPLOYERS We are now receiving numerous questions about employer’s liability and obligations relating to issues arising as a result of the spread of Coronavirus. First of all, we should put this in perspective. The concern around Coronavirus is based on its ability to be passed on from person...

There has long been a misconception among HR professionals that a fair dismissal requires a separate investigation meeting and disciplinary hearing. This is simply not the case on every occasion and a ruling last week in the Appeal Tribunal has underlined this. As with every dismissal, each case will depend...

The Employment Tribunal has ruled that “ethical veganism” is a philosophical belief, and therefore a protected characteristic for discrimination purposes.   Whereas vegans do not eat any food derived from animals, ethical vegans do not use anything from animals, for example they do not wear leather products or use beauty...

THE LATEST CASE UNDERLINES THAT THOSE WE THINK OF AS SELF EMPLOYED, ARE OFTEN NOT SELF EMPLOYED AT ALL. The vexed matter of whether someone is really self employed has been the subject of an Appeal judgment again, and underlines that many of those used in business as self employed...

An important development is taking place in the application of TUPE. When a contract transfers, TUPE means that employees assigned to that contract will transfer as well. So the successful bidder in a tender, or purchaser of a business, gets the employees associated with it, and the liabilities that come...

In a case looking at the balance between the Right to a Private Life, and the right of an employer to use hidden cameras to catch an employee stealing, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that it did not breach the individual’s right to a private life if...