Discrimination Law is Still Confusing the Courts!
In this case the Claimant suffered from a disability which meant that she had to have more time off work than a person who was not disabled. She received a warning letter about her absences from work and lodged a grievance that the warning was discriminatory because her time off was by reason of her […]
SRA scraps minimum salary for trainee solicitors
It’s a very soggy June 2012 and Nick Mason outlines the change to the trainee minimum salary and considers whether it will result in any deluge in the number of annual training contracts available. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced that from the 1st August 2014 they will no longer set a compulsory minimum salary […]
All Change again in Employment Law
Stephen Brookes reviews the April 2012 changes in employment law. In these times of economic crisis, one focus of the present Government is to promote employment in the private sector. To facilitate this, it has been made harder for employees to bring unfair dismissal claims. By The Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal […]
Altering the Terms of Employment Contracts – July 2011
Stephen Brookes reviews the legality of attempts to vary the contracts of employment of staff – July 2011 More often than not it is the employer who will seek to impose a contractual variation upon a contract of employment and this article examines the legality of such arrangements. Some aspects of the employment may not […]
Bullimore v Witham Weld (2011)
A case on the duty owed to ex-employees when giving references – June 2011 In this case, a former employer provided an illegal discriminatory adverse reference to a prospective employer which prevented a former employee from obtaining employment with the prospective employer. It was said in the case that the giving of damaging references can […]
Overstepping the Mark in Discrimination Cases – April 2011
Stephen Brookes reviews Evershed Legal Service Ltd v De Belin, a recent case heard on 6th April 2011 when the employer went too far in favouring an employee on maternity leave over a male employee at work. In this case, heard in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the employer had decided to make one of two […]
November 2010 – Termination of Employment date
Employment Termination Advice For about 30 years it has been the rule that an employer’s notice of termination of an employee’s employment does not bring the contract of employment to an end until the employee actually reads the notice or has a reasonable opportunity of doing so. This was the decision in Brown v Southall […]
September 2010 Dismissal for misconduct
Dismissal for Misconduct It’s a common source of confusion, writes Stephen Brookes, whether an employee can be dismissed for alleged misconduct in the workplace and what criteria the employer must apply before arriving at its decision to dismiss. In 1980, the case of BHS Stores v Burchell stated that an employer, after conducting a proper […]
News June 2010 – Contractual Disciplinary Procedures!
The Dangers of Contractual Disciplinary Procedures! In the recent employment case of Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a doctor was dismissed without notice for gross misconduct. In his contract of employment was a disciplinary procedure and such procedures can be contractual or non-contractual. The doctor argued that the contractual nature of the […]
June 2010 – Employment References
Employment Advice Employment References can be a beartrap for the unwary, writes Stephen Brookes The Employment Appeals Tribunal has recently upheld a claim by a solicitor who claimed compensation against former employers when a reference they provided to subsequent prospective employers referred, gratuitously, to a previous discrimination claim the employee had brought against the firm […]
