SM&B Employment Team

This news feed is run by the Simons Muirhead & Burton Employment & Business Immigration Team who deliver legal and best practice HR solutions combined.

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

TUC warns that "fire and re-hire” has become widespread during the Covid-19 pandemic.  A new poll of over 2,000 workers reveals that nearly 1 in 10 workers have been told to re-apply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions https://t.co/Bf9a8e0dtQ

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 ... as an ET is a ‘court’ within the meaning of the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010.

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 An ET has jurisdiction to hear unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claims against an insolvent employer for compensation against the employer’s insurer where an insurance contract was in place covering liability for ET claims ... https://t.co/9WWBggXheX

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

ET had power to make an order for disclosure against a party who was not in Great Britain, i.e. a US citizen who lives and works in California. Rule 29 of the ET rules has no geographical limitation https://t.co/OOSxjXOH7c

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

Hearings to determine applications for interim relief are public hearings so EJ did not err in refusing to make an order restricting publicity pursuant to rule 50 ET Rules 2013 https://t.co/rWc6eMWQg8

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 Speaking to the business, energy and industrial strategy committee on Tuesday, Kwarteng confirmed his department was carrying out a consultation with business leaders on EU employment rules, including the working time directive.

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 Guardian reports that the business secretary has confirmed his department is reviewing how EU employment rights protections could be changed after Brexit, while insisting they will not be watered down https://t.co/GQpi1omcC1

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 ... because through misunderstanding or ignorance he or she is unaware of it: the claimant was explicitly advised of it (twice) by solicitors but chose not to act on that advice which weighed heavily against the grant of an extension.

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 CA: EJ did not err in refusing to extend time for a discrimination claim following the claimant's alleged misunderstanding of the early conciliation rules. This was not a case of the typical kind where a claimant misses a deadline ... https://t.co/Z7I3kXFnc3

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

Nearly three-quarters (71%) of working mums who have applied for furlough following the latest school closures have had their requests turned down, according to a new TUC survey https://t.co/PwuzXTXrNl

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

ET erred in holding no “genuine redundancy” where Director took over the Claimant’s duties in addition to his own duties, because those facts established a redundancy situation under S.139(1)(b) ERA, applying Safeway Stores Plc v Burrell [1997] ICR 523 https://t.co/ahelV3VS38

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 ... taking part in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time, or penalising him for doing so”. The question of the employer’s “sole or main motive” is a subjective to be judged by enquiring into what was in the mind of the employer at the time.

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 ET entitled to find that employer’s “sole or main purpose” in giving the Claimant a warning for refusing to comply with an instruction to take down an email list he had created for union communications was “preventing or deterring him from ... https://t.co/JRPEhr6pSm

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 The ET therefore erred in law by treating the addition of further particulars of protected disclosures as an application to amend the claim by adding a new cause of action out of time https://t.co/Srgm07PpbW

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 On a proper construction claim always included unfair dismissal based on protected disclosures, which appeared to be in time. In such a case the cause of action is unfair dismissal, not the making of protected disclosures.

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 ET had not specifically, or sufficiently, examined whether such features of the case might, individually or together, arguably support the drawing of an inference or the shifting of the statutory burden https://t.co/S0xsvfGxYm

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 ET erred in striking out claims of direct race discrimination and race-related harassment at PH on the basis that there was no arguable case that there was “something more” in Madarassy terms, to shift the burden to the Respondent to explain the treatment complained of

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

2/2 ... both of which exclude those who are genuinely in business on their own account and undertake work for their clients or customers https://t.co/I2GpBT17Tw

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

1/2 No significant difference between the definition of an employee in the extended sense for the purposes of S.83(2) EA 2010 and a limb (b) worker for the purposes of
provisions such as the ERA 1996 ...

[SM&B Employment Team @smabemplaw]

The Government have published guidance for employers and workers on work absences due to coronavirus (COVID-19). It sets out the relevant legal framework around absence and the return to work https://t.co/GfD0M6yuc0