Redundancy criteria that led to dismissal of nurse was unfair
December 20th 2022A nurse has won her claim of unfair dismissal after she was made redundant simply because her contract renewal was coming round earlier than her colleague’s. Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. Karen Regan worked as a Band 6 nurse for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her employment had consisted of a series of fixed-term contracts since 2016, There was another Band…
New law designed to protect pregnant women against redundancy
November 15th 2022Pregnant 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…
Employee’s contract entitled him to benefits of income protection
October 3rd 2022The 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…
Employer entitled to dismiss consultant who didn’t disclose bankruptcy
September 16th 2022An 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 need to be aware of changes to fit note rules, says leading employment lawyer
September 13th 2022EMPLOYERS 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…
Fashion designer subjected to age discrimination awarded £96k
August 25th 2022A 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…
Advice for employers with staff caught up in holiday travel chaos
August 2nd 2022A 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…
Worker unfairly dismissed for not removing religious neck chain
August 1st 2022A 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…
Do your employees have permission to work, and do you know how to conduct Right to Work Checks?
July 20th 2022One of the basic requirements on all employers is to ensure that the people they employ have permission to work in the UK. From April 2022 the process that employers need to follow when conducting right to work checks changed – you can no longer accept physical cards or permits, you must undertake digital checks. Civil penalties are imposed on organisations that have employed an individual who does not have…
Ban on employment exclusivity clauses to be widened to help low paid
June 21st 2022The government is to widen the ban on employment exclusivity clauses, which restrict staff from working for multiple employers. Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment and HR provides an update. In 2015, exclusivity clauses were banned for workers on zero hours contracts, where employers are not obliged to provide any minimum working hours and the worker is not obliged to accept any work offered. The change provided more workers with…
