Employment Advice for Employees

Pregnant women and new parents will receive greater protection from redundancy under new legislation currently going through parliament.  Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. Under current rules, before offering redundancy to an employee on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave, employers have an obligation to offer them a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists.  The Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Bill, introduced…

A worker who lost her job while positive for Covid-19 and then went on to be diagnosed with long Covid has lost her disability discrimination claim.  Jennifer Cafferky Solicitor in our employment team, reports on this recent case. Ms Quinn worked as ‘Head of People’ for Sense Scotland from 9 December 2019.  On 11 July 2021 she tested positive for Covid and was dismissed from her role on 27 July 2021. …

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a clause in a worker’s contract entitling him to a 5% rise in sick pay each year should be applied even though his employers amended their policy two years after his employment began. Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. Joel Langton worked for Amdocs Systems Groups Ltd from 2003.  His contract included Clause 6, which entitled…

An Employment Tribunal has ruled that an estate agent was entitled to dismiss a financial consultant for failing to disclose his bankruptcy, despite the absence of an express policy requiring such disclosure.     Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. Mr K Pubbi was employed as a financial consultant by Your-Move.co.uk, an estate agency which also arranges mortgages and offers various insurance products.     Pubbi took…

EMPLOYERS across the UK are being made aware of recent changes allowing more health professionals to issue fit notes. To reduce pressures on doctors, particularly GPs, the Government added registered nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists to the list of professionals who can certify fit notes providing evidence to employers about a person’s absence if they have been off work with illness for seven days or more. Joanne Stronach, Head…

A fashion designer in her early fifties who was passed over for promotion has been awarded £96,000 after making an age discrimination claim.  Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. The case involved Rachel Sunderland, who had worked as a knitwear specialist for Superdry since 2015.   Sunderland had 30 years’ experience in the industry and had worked for well-known brands such as Fang Bros and Boden…

A pregnant cleaner who was told by her manager she was pathetic for needing to take a five-minute break has won her discrimination case.  Jennifer Cafferky Solicitor in our employment team, reports on this recent case. Anna Burns began working for Whitstable-based Tralee Rest Home in March 2019.  She took only two days absent from work and had a good relationship with her manager for the first six months of her…

A LEADING employment lawyer has issued advice for businesses with employees caught up in the current international travel chaos. The first week of the school holidays has seen lengthy queues at the Port of Dover, with the chaos at the ferry port mirrored by delays at international airports, with many holidaymakers left stranded abroad with flights either postponed or cancelled. The delays are expected to intensify over the next six…

A Christian worker has won his claim of unfair dismissal after he refused to take off his neck chain.  Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. Mr Kovalkovs worked at the 2 Sisters Food Group chicken processing firm from November 2019.  He wore a silver crucifix on a neck chain to signify his belief in the Russian Orthodox Church.  This was an issue for…

The Employment Tribunal has ruled that an employee who was dismissed while suffering from long Covid is entitled to make a claim for disability discrimination. Jennifer Cafferky Solicitor in our employment team, reports on this recent case. It held that his symptoms met the criteria for him to be classed as disabled under the terms of the Equality Act.  The case involved Mr T Burke, who had worked at Turning Point…