Employment Law Updates

The National Living Wage, which is the statutory minimum wage for those aged 25 and over, has to rise to £8.21ph from April 2019 – which means an additional £690 annually for low paid workers. The Low Pay Commission (LPC), which recommended the increase, have anticipated that the increase will see almost 2.4 million workers […]

How healthy is your business? To find out, answer these simple questions below. 1. Do all your employees have a written contract of employment? Y/N 2. Are these contracts of employment issued within the first 8 weeks of their employment commencing? Y/N 3. Do you have job descriptions for all roles within the organisation? Y/N […]

A letter that sets out one months’ notice should not be automatically assumed as a letter of resignation, an EAT Judge has confirmed. In the case of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust v Levy, Judge Jennifer Eady dismissed the appeal and confirmed the tribunals earlier decision that the employee had in fact been […]

The Employment Tribunals (ET) are an independent judicial body established to resolve disputes over employment rights between employers and employees. Claims likely to be heard in the ET will involve matters on unfair dismissal, discrimination, wages and redundancy payments. In July 2017, the Supreme Court unanimously held that ET fees were unlawful and must be […]

The new Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 sets out that parents who suffer the death of a child under the age of 18 or a still birth from 24 weeks of pregnancy will be entitled to two weeks paid leave. It is expected that these new rights will be incorporated into the Employment […]

The MOJ has published the tribunal statistics for April to June 2018 and across the board the numbers are up! Here are the key figures: • number of single claims lodged increased by 165% compared with the same quarter last year. • the number of single claims outstanding rose by 130% compared with the same […]

1. When is it permissible for an employer to terminate the contract of employment of an employee on the grounds of ill health? Dismissing an employee on the grounds of ill health is anything but straight forward. Lack of capability, including when assessed with reference to health can be viewed as a potentially fair reason […]

All employers should already be aware that treating an employee differently because they are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, black, white etc can result in legal action. But, can you be accused of discriminating against another person’s philosophical belief’s? “Religious or philosophical belief” is one of the 9 protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. And unlike […]