News & insights
COVID-19 related cases within the employment tribunal
Employment claims involving cases related to COVID-19 are now starting to emerge within the employment tribunal (ET). Back in 2020, at the initial stages of the pandemic, many employers were confused about how to manage various workplace issues arising from COVID-19. Issues such as isolation requirements, employees within the vulnerable health categories, childcare requests and […]
Read MoreLost employment records
Tesco has recently settled a data breach claim for £3,000 made by a former employee after she discovered Tesco had lost her employment records. The employee had worked for the supermarket for 30 years and had requested the information as part of a separate employment tribunal claim she was making against the supermarket. Her personnel […]
Read MoreFire and rehire – Commons Bill blocked
Earlier in the year we reported on an Acas report that had been commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to investigate the practice of ‘fire and rehire’. The practice has seen a particular upsurge during the pandemic. A link to that article can be found here. What is fire and […]
Read MoreShould making political comments outside of work result in dismissal for serious misconduct?
Mr Keable worked for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham as a public protection and safety officer in the council’s environmental health department. There was agreement that he was good at his job and that, before the matters leading to the dismissal, he had a clean disciplinary record. He had worked for the council […]
Read MoreMenopause at work
Why is the menopause a workplace issue? At present, one in eight of the UK workforce is a woman over the age of 50. Given these figures, it is important that employers recognise that staff may need support, that they have the necessary policies and procedures in place and that they understand the relevant employment […]
Read MoreWas it unfair to dismiss a teacher for allegedly ‘locking’ a pupil in a cupboard?
Mr Basit had worked as a mathematics teacher at Pleckgate High School since 2016. His appraisals were consistently good, his management style was praised, and his pupils made good progress. His teaching style was to use light-hearted humour and his behaviour management techniques included asking a pupil to stand up, switch seats, go to the […]
Read MoreLong COVID
Long COVID is the term used to describe the long-lasting effects of COVID-19 that continue for weeks or months. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines long COVID as the ‘Post COVID-19 condition that occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually three months from the onset of COVID-19 with […]
Read MoreFlexible working consultation
In September 2021, the government began a consultation into flexible working requests to give staff the right to make a flexible working request as a ‘day one’ right. That is, to open up the number of people who can make the request so that it is not limited to employees who have acquired 26 weeks continuous […]
Read MoreCan the requirements of a dress code be discriminatory?
Possibly – but not in the case of Miss L Lawrence v Q7 Group Ltd T/A Bundles of Joy Day Nursery. Miss Lawrence, the claimant, worked as a nursery nurse for the respondent’s Streatham nursery branch. The nursery had a dress code policy which all staff were required to adhere to. The dress code included […]
Read MoreAbsence of an appeal in a redundancy process
In Gwynedd v Shelley Barratt and Ioan Hughes, the claimants were employed by the council as teachers of physical education. They were dismissed on 31 August 2017, following the school’s closure. They brought claims of unfair dismissal on the basis that they were not given the right to appeal. School closure The claimants, Shelley Barratt and […]
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