Health and Safety – an Employee’s Duties – One Inner Temple Lane

Posted June 26th, 2013 in employment, health & safety, imprisonment, news by sally

“The law upon health and safety is becoming ever more punitive. Traditionally it had been considered regulatory rather than penal legislation designed to prevent tragedy not punish transgressors. The maximum penalty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was a fine proportionate to the means of the offender until very recently. For the first time ever under the Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 an offending employee can face custody of up to two years. We can all generally support the principles of the legislation but the removal of a person’s liberty is so serious that it is imperative that cases are defended with vigour.”

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One Inner Temple Lane, 26th June 2013

Source: www.1itl.com

Whistleblowing: is new ‘public interest’ test a good thing? – The Guardian

Posted June 25th, 2013 in employment, news, public interest, whistleblowers by sally

“In the wake of the Edward Snowden disclosures, some fear that changes to UK whistleblowing laws could discourage those here wanting to spill the beans.”

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The Guardian, 25th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Riežniece v Zemkopības ministrija and another – WLR Daily

Posted June 25th, 2013 in EC law, employment, law reports, parental rights, sex discrimination, women by sally

Riežniece v Zemkopības ministrija and another (Case C-7/12); [2013] WLR (D) 247

“In circumstances where a much higher number of women than men took parental leave, Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 (as amended) and the Framework Agreement on Parental Leave, contained in the Annex to Council Direction 96/34/EC precluded a situation where (1) as part of an assessment of workers in the context of abolishment of officials’ posts due to national economic difficulties, a worker who had taken parental leave was assessed in his or her absence on the basis of assessment principles and criteria which placed the worker who had taken leave in a less favourable position compared to workers who did not take parental leave; and (2) a female worker who had been transferred to another post at the end of her parental leave following that assessment was dismissed due to the abolishment of that new post, where it was not impossible for the employer to allow her to return to her former post or where the work assigned to her was not equivalent or similar and consistent with her employment contract or employment relationship because, at the time of the transfer, the employer was informed that the new post was due to be abolished.”

WLR Daily, 20th June 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Confidentiality clauses in public sector payoffs ‘must not stop whistleblowers’ – The Guardian

“Margaret Hodge says government must make clear deals should not stop whistleblowers from speaking out, after NAO report.”

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The Guardian, 21st June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 – No. 5 Chambers

“The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 [‘ERRA’] received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013, bringing some significant changes to employment law and tribunal procedure. Gemma Roberts highlights the main reforms affecting employment tribunal, ACAS procedure and the changes to whistleblowing; Mugni Islam-Choudhury considers the amendments introduced to the Equality Act 2010.”

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No. 5 Chambers, 6th June 2013

Source: www.no5.com

Expert: ruling gives ‘very little comfort’ to employers looking to defend compulsory retirement age in partnership case – OUT-LAW.com

“Employers looking to defend or reintroduce a mandatory retirement age will find ‘very little comfort’ in last week’s decision allowing a law firm to force a partner to retire at 65, an expert has said.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 4th June 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Government consults on new tax rules for UK workers employed through offshore intermediaries – OUT-LAW.com

“New rules aimed at ensuring that businesses which employ UK-based workers through offshore structures pay the correct employment taxes have been published for consultation by the Government.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 31st May 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Contracting a contagious disease in the course of a teacher’s employment – Employment Law Blog

Posted May 31st, 2013 in appeals, employment, employment tribunals, health, news, sick leave, teachers by sally

“The Burgundy Book (the Conditions of Service for School Teachers in England and Wales) provides that a teacher is entitled to full pay where her ‘absence was due to an infectious or contagious illness contracted directly in the course of the teacher’s employment’, and that ‘such absence was not be reckoned against the teacher’s entitlement to sick leave’.”

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Employment Law Blog, 30th May 2013

Source: www.employment11kbw.com

Employers forced to repay workers for refusing minimum wage – The Guardian

“Tens of thousands of workers who were denied the minimum wage have received hundreds of pounds in back pay from their employers following tougher enforcement policy by tax inspectors. Over the last year more than 26,000 workers were paid back £4m after action by HM Revenue and Customs, who are responsible for enforcing minimum wage laws.”

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The Guardian, 30th May 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The New World of Whistleblowing: bringing back the public interest – 11 KBW

Posted May 29th, 2013 in employment, legislation, news, public interest, whistleblowers by sally

“The enactment of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (“PIDA”) was designed to introduce important protection for those blowing the whistle to draw attention to wrongdoing discovered in the workplace. During the passage of the Bill in the House of Lords, Lord Nolan commended those behind it ‘for so skilfully achieving the essential but delicate balance in this measure between the public interest and the interests of employers’. Fifteen years on, the verdict is less effusive. Significant gaps had been identified in the legislation, for example in failing to impose vicarious liability on employers for acts of victimisation carried out by their employees or agents. In other respects, however, PIDA has come to be seen a blunt instrument, enabling disgruntled employees to seek unlimited compensation despite having done nothing to further the public interest.”

Full story (PDF)

11 KBW, 22nd May 2013

Source: www.11kbw.com

Breach of confidence requires infringer having knowledge of breach, rules Supreme Court – OUT-LAW.com

“Former employees of companies that use trade secrets to develop products cannot automatically be found to have acted in breach of confidence if they are involved in rival operations that exploit the protected information, the Supreme Court has ruled.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 28th May 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

European Court of Human Rights rejects Christians’ cases that their religious rights were violated by employers – The Independent

“Three British Christians who claimed their religious rights were violated by employers were told by European judges today that they could take their rejected cases no further.”

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The Independent, 28th May 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Law firms have ‘unconscious bias’ that stops women from getting promoted, says senior City lawyer – Daily Telegraph

Posted May 28th, 2013 in employment, equality, law firms, news, sex discrimination, women by sally

“As Lady Justice Hallett, a senior woman judge, warns the ‘frenetic’ pace of life holds women back, a leading lawyer and diversity consultant to the top legal institutions says there is an ‘unconscious bias’ against women in the legal profession.”

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Daily Telegraph, 24th May 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

When do the secular courts protect the rights of a minister of religion? When is a minister of religion called by God to a non-contractual relationship and when does she do her job under a contract? – Employment Law Blog

“The Supreme Court held in The President of the Methodist Conference v Preston that a Methodist minister was not an employee and therefore had no claim for unfair dismissal.”

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Employment Law Blog, 20th May 2013

Source: www.employment11kbw.com

Workfare and the First-tier Tribunal – Panopticon

Posted May 21st, 2013 in employment, freedom of information, news, tribunals by sally

“Employment programmes for welfare recipients – often referred to as ‘workfare’ – are highly controversial. In Department for Work and Pensions v Information Commissioner and Zola (EA/2012/0207,0232 and 0233), the First-tier Tribunal considered three FOIA requests for information about companies participating in such programmes. The Tribunal ordered disclosure, rejecting the Department’s reliance on the exemptions in FOIA section 43(2) (prejudice to commercial interests) and section 36(2)(c) (prejudice to the effect conduct of public affairs).”

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Panopticon, 20th May 2013

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Workfare placements must be made public, tribunal rules – The Guardian

“The Department for Work and Pensions has lost a major court battle to keep the locations of thousands of workfare placements secret.”

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The Guardian, 19th May 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Preston (formerly Moore) v President of the Methodist Conference – WLR Daily

Posted May 17th, 2013 in Christianity, employment, law reports, Supreme Court, unfair dismissal by sally

Preston (formerly Moore) v President of the Methodist Conference [2013 UKSC 29; [2013] WLR (D) 179

“The basis for the rights and duties of an ordained minister of the Methodist Church were to be found in the constitutional provisions of the church and not in any arrangement of a kind which could amount to a contract. Therefore a Methodist minister was not an ’employee’ of the church for the purposes of section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and was not entitled to bring proceedings for unfair dismissal against the church.”

WLR Daily, 15th May 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The President of the Methodist Conference (Appellant) v Preston (Respondent) – Supreme Court

Posted May 16th, 2013 in Christianity, employment, law reports, Supreme Court, unfair dismissal by sally

The President of the Methodist Conference (Appellant) v Preston (Respondent) [2013] UKSC 29 | UKSC 2012/0015 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 15th May 2013

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

Supreme Court rules that God is above the law – Daily Telegraph

Posted May 16th, 2013 in Christianity, employment, news, Supreme Court, unfair dismissal by sally

“It has passed judgments affecting multimillionaires, multinational banks and MPs but now Britain’s highest court has made clear that it does not have jurisdiction over God.”

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Daily Telegraph, 15th May 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

High Court Litigation Commercial Bargains and The Common Law – 11 KBW

Posted May 15th, 2013 in company law, courts, employment, fiduciary duty, news by sally

“Employment litigation in the High Court is one of the most interesting and dynamic areas of practice. The cases tend to be fought at the point where countervailing currents commercial and employment law meet and many of the cases turn on resolving the tension between a bargain struck between commercial men and the portmanteau term of trust and confidence. That tension presents an opportunity for the creative advisor and a pitfall for the unwary”

Full story (PDF)

11 KBW, 10th May 2013

Source: www.11kbw.com