Employment Library

  • Adoption - A Woman's Rights

    Employers are reminded that women who are planning to adopt a child have similar rights as regards protection from unfavourable treatment as employees who are pregnant. This was illustrated by a landmark decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET). Anna...

  • Age Discrimination Checklist

    The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 aim to achieve equal treatment in employment and vocational training to eradicate discrimination on the grounds of age. Under the Regulations it is unlawful to make employment decisions based on a...

  • Buy-to-Let

    Kingsley Smith Solicitors LLP specialises in offering valuable services to all our buy-to-let clients. We have assisted them to purchase their properties, and to ensure the safety of their investments for the future. Whether you wish to discuss your...

  • Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act

    In 2007, the former Equal Opportunities Commission brought judicial review proceedings against the Government regarding some of the provisions of the Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005 , which made amendments to the Sex...

  • Disability Discrimination - Normal Day-to-Day Activities

    For the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their normal day-to-day activities. In Chief Constable of...

  • Driving on Company Business

    Research by the Health and Safety Executive shows that 20 people are killed and 250 are seriously injured each week in traffic accidents involving someone driving for business reasons. The threat of employers being prosecuted for road accidents involving...

  • Employer Responsible for Work-Related Suicide

    Employees, or their dependants, are entitled to claim damages for injury caused by a workplace accident if: • there was a duty of care owed to the injured person; • that duty was not performed; and • it was reasonably foreseeable that harm...

  • Equal Treatment for Agency Workers - Later Not Sooner

    After many failed attempts over the last six years by the EU Council of Ministers to agree on proposals to improve the employment rights of agency workers, the European Parliament finally adopted the Agency Workers Directive on 19 November 2008. Member...

  • Expired Disciplinary Warnings and Unfair Dismissal

    The Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET), upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), that an employee was unfairly dismissed because his employer had taken account of an expired disciplinary warning when deciding to...

  • Faulty Work Boots - Employer Not Liable for Employee's Frostbite

    The House of Lords ruled, in the case of Fytche v Wincanton Logistics , that an employer’s absolute obligation to maintain or repair protective equipment, under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, does not extend to a situation...

  • Graduate Recruitment

    Most businesses would like to benefit from an influx of talent, enthusiasm and fresh ideas. The challenge is to achieve it at an acceptable cost. One option is to employ a recent graduate. In the past, most graduate recruitment was undertaken by large...

  • Guidance for Employers of Teleworkers

    Nowadays, many people work away from the traditional office environment through the use of modern technology. The Government estimates that there are now more than two million ‘teleworkers’ in the UK who do some work from home, an increase of 65...

  • Immigration - A Brief Guide to the Points-Based System

    The Points-Based Immigration System (PBS) has replaced the previous routes to work and study in the UK for migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. In addition, the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 , passed on 21...

  • In Brief - Advice on Occupational Asthma

    The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that each year between 1,500 and 3,000 people in Great Britain develop occupational asthma. The number rises to 7,000 cases a year if asthma made worse by work is taken into account. The cost to society is...

  • In Brief - Data Protection

    The Office of the Information Commissioner has published a consolidated version of the guidance on data protection issues in employment. This brings together the four existing guides on recruitment and selection, employee records, monitoring at work and...

  • In Brief - Guidance on Cancer and Working

    Changes introduced in December 2005 extended protection under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to those diagnosed with progressive forms of cancer. The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, together with the Working with Cancer group and the...

  • In Brief - Working at Height Regulations

    Falls from height are the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of serious injury. In order to help prevent accidents of this type, revised Regulations came into force on 6 April 2005. The Work at Height Regulations (WAHR) 2005...

  • In Brief: ACAS E-learning Guides

    The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) now has ten electronic learning guides available on its website. The topics are: • bullying and harassment; • managing absence in the workplace; • handling redundancy; •...

  • In Brief: ACAS Guidance on Holiday and Holiday Pay

    The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has useful guidance for employers puzzling over staff holiday pay entitlements. These clarify the law in a useful question-and-answer format. Subjects covered include the entitlement of agency...

  • In Brief: Assessment of Repetitive Tasks Tool

    Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common occupational illness in Britain. They include problems such as low back pain, joint injuries and repetitive strain injuries of various sorts, and affect more than 500,000 people every year. They are often...

  • Informing and Consulting Employees

    The EU Information and Consultation Directive 2002 establishes minimum requirements for consulting and informing employees on a wide variety of subjects. The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 implement the Directive in the UK. ...

  • Night Sleeper Entitled to National Minimum Wage

    The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) confirmed ( Burrow Down Support Services Ltd. v Rossiter ) that a night worker who was required to be available to deal with security issues at his employer’s premises, but who could sleep for much of his shift on...

  • Pregnant Women and Risk Assessments

    The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require all employers to carry out an assessment of workplace risks that could harm employees and to do whatever is ‘reasonably practicable’ to control these risks. In particular,...

  • Preventing Occupational Deafness

    The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 introduced tighter controls on exposure to noise levels in the workplace, to protect workers from damage to their hearing. The noise level at which workers are required to have hearing protection available is...

  • Protecting Business Interests

    When an employee leaves to go to work for another organisation, their employer may wish to have in place safeguards to protect sensitive information relating to the business, to prevent it from falling into the hands of a competitor. One possible way of...

  • Race Discrimination and the Burden of Proof

    Recent case law has led to confusion as to whether Section 54A of the Race Relations Act 1976 applies to direct discrimination on the grounds of someone’s colour. In Okonu v G4S Security Services (UK) Ltd. , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)...

  • Resolving Workplace Disputes

    In order to establish what it is hoped will be a more flexible system for dealing with workplace disputes, as of 6 April 2009 the Employment Act 2008 repealed the Statutory Dispute Resolution Procedures in their entirety. In their place is a voluntary...

  • Sex Discrimination and Harassment

    A woman who brought a claim for sexual harassment, after she discovered that nine of her colleagues had circulated obscene e-mails about her, received a £10,000 settlement from her former employer. The woman, who worked as a Sales Support Administrator...

  • Sickness Absence and Holiday Leave

    The EC Working Time Directive lays down minimum health and safety requirements for the organisation of working time. The purpose of the entitlement to paid annual leave is to enable a worker to rest and to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure. The...

  • Staff Handbooks and Contractual Rights

    It is not uncommon for employees’ contracts of employment to expressly incorporate the staff handbook, although much of its contents will refer to policy matters rather than having contractual status. Following a recent decision of the Court of Appeal...

  • TUPE - Post Transfer Consultation

    The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has considered ( AMICUS and TGWU v Glasgow City Council ) whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) require a transferee employer to consult with the union representatives...

  • TUPE Regulations 2006

    The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) apply to any size of business and protect the employment rights of employees when their employer changes as a result of the relevant transfer of a business or a part of one....

  • The Civil Partnership Act

    When the Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force in December 2005, amendments were made to the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 in order to make it clear that the status of a civil partner is comparable with that of a spouse....

  • Time Limits for Equal Pay Claims - Stable Employment Relationships

    Local authorities across the UK face thousands of claims from women who contend that they have been paid less than men for doing similar work or work of equal value. Following a recent decision of the Court of Appeal, women who have worked for the same...

  • Triangular Agency Working Arrangements - The Correct Approach

    A further case ( East Living Ltd. v Sridhar and TSG Services Ltd.) has confirmed the approach an Employment Tribunal (ET) should take when deciding whether or not an agency worker is in reality the employee of the end user company. Mr Sridhar was supplied...

  • Unfair Dismissal Claims - A Minute Late is Too Late

    An employee must bring an unfair dismissal claim within three months of his or her effective date of termination and the time limits for presenting claims to the Tribunals Service are normally strictly enforced. If the deadline is missed, the Employment...

  • Whistleblowing Disclosure Must Be In Good Faith

    The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) – often referred to as the ‘Whistleblowing’ Act – came into force in July 1999. PIDA inserted new sections into the Employment Rights Act 1996 which give workers legal protection when...

  • Workers on Long-Term Sick Leave - Non-Payment of Holiday Pay

    The judgment of the House of Lords in the long-running case of Stringer and others v HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will be a blow to many businesses struggling to survive in the current economic climate. The Law Lords have overturned the decision of the...
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