Tattoos - the last Taboo?
Love them or hate them, tattoos are popular and more and more people have them. From Judi Dench to Harry Styles, an increasing amount of people are choosing to decorate their bodies with ink.
Caught on Facebook - Monitoring workers' digital communications
Last year, in Barbulescu v Romania, the European Court of Human Rights decided that employers were able to monitor their workers’ emails where there was a good reason for doing so. Now, in a surprising turn of events, that decision has been reversed on appeal.
Has the fog cleared on vaping at work?
E-cigarettes have not been around long but you can find an E-cigarette shop in almost every high street or shopping centre and it is estimated that there are circa 2.8 million E-cigarette users in the UK.
Why is the take up of shared parental leave so low?
The conciliatory service ACAS recently published a report focused on workplace attitudes towards supporting parents who take extended leave to care for children. The report, Flexible Working for Parents Returning to Work – Maintaining career development, confirms that while there’s been a big push for employers to encourage women to feel comfortable taking maternity leave without losing their status in the workplace, the same can not be said for their male counterparts.
Workplace Law - September 2017
The workplace as we know is ever evolving so make sure you are up to date with the latest issues in the workplace by reading this edition where we consider vaping at work, monitoring employees and the tattoo taboo..
Huge hike in compensation payments for hurt and upset employees
With effect from the 11 September 2017 there will be a very significant rise in compensation awards for injury to feelings or psychiatric injury in discrimination cases.
Workplace Law - August 2017
There is lots of information in our August edition of Workplace Law, we have split it into three sections. These include: Voluntary overtime - we talk about a new ruling which will be welcomed by employers who are paid overtime. Statutory payments - employers need to alter how they have been calculating various statutory payments. Injuries to feelings in the workplace - a recent case (De Souza v Vinci Construction) resolved questions as to whether civil courts can now apply injuries to feelings.
Workplace Law - July 2017
In our July edition of Workplace Law we have prepared a summary of the key points raised in the Taylor Review on Modern Working Practices. The Good Work Report makes a series of recommendations some of which if implemented into legislation then will have far reaching consequences for employers and the employment relationship. Please therefore take some time to read this month’s edition.
Tupe is not a case of majority rules
Any business that has experience of outsourcing, re-contracting or bidding for contracts will have heard of the TUPE regulations.
National minimum wage for workers on sleep-in shifts
The recent case of Focus Care Agency Ltd v Mr B Roberts had the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considering whether those working “sleep-in” shifts were entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for just the time they were awake or the whole of their shift, even when they were asleep.
When a gift is a gift and not a bribe
When a gift is a gift and not a bribe. Elizabeth Maxwell considers the law on giving and receiving gifts in the workplace.
Gender pay gap law ‘will lack bite’
Susanna Gilmartin from our Employment team speaks to The Time’s The Brief and gives her opinions on the new proposed gender pay gap law.
Legal issues on employees working excessive hours
The Reading employment tribunal recently heard how socialite Countess Maya von Schoenburg (the respondent), friend of Lord Rothschild and ex-wife of Mick Flick, told her housekeeper not to get pregnant unless she told her first.
Setting the rules for the Games
By Ben Stepney, Solicitor in Employment. Article first published in Kent Business on 5 July 2012.
Sickness and holiday pay – an issue that won’t go away
By Susanna Gilmartin, Partner in Employment. A few years ago, everyone seemed to be rather preoccupied with the question of precisely how to deal with the accrual of holiday, when an employee is on long term sick leave. Various cases on this subject were widely reported and whilst a number of questions remained unanswered, something like a consensus arose regarding how to deal with such situations.
Agency Workers Regulations 2010 – what should you be doing now?
By Nick Hobden, Partner and Head of Employment. Many of you will have heard a lot about the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) over the last year or so. Some of you may already have done what you need to do to make sure that your business is compliant. If you have, then you get a gold star and go straight to the top of the class. But there are, no doubt, many out there who have not quite managed to find the time to concentrate their minds on this issue just yet. Well you can put it off no longer!
Employment mock tribunal
The employment lawyers at Thomson Snell & Passmore have significant experience and an excellent success rate in dealing with employment tribunal claims.
