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Some very big news that the Government has announced details of how it will remove the default retirement age of 65 permitted by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. It proposes to begin phasing out the DRA from April 2011. The proposals are subject to a consultation, which will run until 21 October 2010.

The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in Seldon v Clarkson, Wright & Jakes, a case concerning the ability of a partnership to justify a mandatory retirement age of 65.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") in Nationwide Building Society v Benn and ors has held that employees who resigned in response to their jobs being downgraded and their bonus entitlements being reduced following a TUPE transfer were constructively dismissed. The dismissals were not automatically unfair for being connected to the transfer, as the tribunal had been entitled to find that the dismissals were for a valid ‘economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce’ under Reg 7(2) of TUPE 2006. In so holding, the EAT decides that ‘entailing changes in the workforce’ in this regard does not mean that the whole workforce must be affected.

In Wardle v Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Known as Calyon UK) the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") examined the remedy ordered by an employment tribunal. The tribunal had held that the principal reason for the employee's dismissal was that he had brought a race discrimination claim. In addition to upholding the discrimination claim, the tribunal held that the employee's dismissal was unfair and an act of victimisation. The employer had also failed to follow the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedure (DDP).

The Dwelling Houses (Execution of Possession Orders by Mortgagees) Regulations 2010 (Regulations) were made on 13 July 2010.

The Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010 (MRPTA 2010) received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010. The Act was passed to give some protection to residential tenants whose tenancies did not bind their landlord's mortgage lender during repossession proceedings.

Another judgment from the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") suggesting, even more bluntly than the previous ones that a Claimant who lies in the tribunal should be ordered to pay the Respondent's costs.

Nicolson Highlandwear Ltd v Nicolson

The Government has announced that it intends to consult on introducing a limit on the number of migrants from outside Europe coming to work in the United Kingdom. An interim limit will be introduced to avoid a rush of applications before the limit is set, and to ensure that the number of work visas issued stays below 2009 levels. The move is part of a wider Government policy to reduce annual immigration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands.

In GX Networks Ltd v Greenland the Court of Appeal held that a contractual power to cap an overperformance bonus "by exception only" meant that it could only be capped in exceptional circumstances. In this case the employee's substantial overperformance on sales targets, coupled with the employer's decision not to review her targets because of the likely demotivating effect, were not exceptional circumstances.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal ("the EAT") has handed down its decision in Worrall v Wilmott Dixon Partnership, which is authority for the proposition that:

• to incorporate a term of a Collective Agreement into a contract, the term must be brought to the employees' notice or agreed.
• on a TUPE transfer, an incorporated Collective Agreement is frozen at the transfer, so transferred employees cannot benefit from future changes to the original Agreement. However, if legislation affects the original Agreement, then it also affects the transferred Agreement.

Trainee Solicitor Declan Goodwin has been awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in EC Competition Law by King’s College London.

Kraft Foods had an "exceptionally generous" contractual redundancy scheme. Because of the high levels of payment under the scheme, it capped redundancy payments at the sum that a redundant employee would have earned if he had remained in employment until normal retirement age.

Kraft Foods v Hastie

The ECJ has handed down two decisions dealing with the payments that must be made to women who, for reasons connected with health and safety during pregnancy, have their working conditions altered or are temporarily suspended.

Maitland Walker LLP is pleased to announce that Ben Slade is now a Senior Associate within the firm in recognition for his continuing hard work.

In Gibb v Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, the Court of Appeal, overturning the previous High Court decision, held that the NHS Trust could not escape paying the sums due under the compromise agreement entered into with its previous Chief Executive as it had not acted ultra vires when entering into the agreement.

The General Court of the European Union has broadly upheld the fine imposed by the European Commission on Astrazeneca for abuse of a dominant position by blocking or delaying generic versions of its Proton Pump Inhibitor, the anti-ulcer drug Losec (Omeprazell).

Court of Appeal held that the claimants' applications to add new comparators to their equal pay claims.

The Court of Appeal held that an employee could, in principle, recover damages for loss of future employment prospects.

The government will be undertaking a review of the role and purpose of the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).

The landlord argued that the occupier had occupied the property as a tenant at will during the lease negotiations, which brought about a surrender of the lease by operation of law. The Court of Appeal did not agree.

In Ravat v Halliburton Manufacturing and Services Ltd the Inner House of the Court of Session held by a majority that an employee who lived in Great Britain but worked in Libya on a "one month on, one month off" rotational basis, qualified for unfair dismissal protection under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996).

In the March 2010 Budget, the former Labour government announced the introduction of SDLT relief for first-time buyers of residential property where the consideration does not exceed £250,000.

In the June 2010 Budget, the new government said that it will review first-time buyer relief taking into account its impact on affordability and value for money.

The Maitland Walker commercial team has analysed the June 2010 Budget and produced a "snap-shot" update to explain the key tax announcements and their implications for businesses.

Break notices are often the cause of litigation, particularly in the current economic climate where landlords are keen to retain tenants of good covenant strength.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT")  has handed down judgment in J v DLA Piper UK LLP, where the EAT had to consider closely the definition of 'disability' for mental impairments within the meaning of the DDA. It stated:-

• A GP is fully qualified to express an opinion on whether a patient is suffering from depression;
• it remains good practice in every case for a tribunal to state conclusions separately on the questions of impairment and adverse effect (and, in the case of adverse effect, the questions of substantiality and long-term effect arising under it); but
• the tribunal should not proceed by rigid consecutive stages; if there is a dispute about the existence of an impairment, it will make sense to start with the question of whether a claimant's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities is adversely affected.

 The EAT added that there is a technical difference between 'depression' and a reaction to adverse life events.

The Government has announced that it will halt registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) in response to criticism that the current scheme is disproportionate, overly burdensome, and unduly infringes on civil liberties. Voluntary registration with the VBS for new employees and job-movers working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults was due to start on 26 July 2010, with compulsory registration due to follow in November 2010. The Home Office, the Department of Health and the Department for Education are reviewing the Scheme in order to scale registration back to ‘proportionate, common sense levels’.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has handed down its decision in Heaven v Whitbread Group, which is authority for the proposition that, as the effective date of termination is a statutory construct, the date of termination in a 'conditional resignation' claim depends on what happened between the parties. Their wishes, or subsequent agreement as to a different date, are irrelevant (applying Fitzgerald v University of Kent [2004] EWCA Civ 143).

The High Court has held that a cause of action based solely on an announcement of a guaranteed minimum bonus pool of EUR400 million, intended to retain staff when there was speculation about a company sale, had no realistic chance of success at trial since it was insufficiently clear and precise to be contractually binding.

The provision of accommodation by reason of an employee's employment is a taxable benefit in kind, on which income tax and National Insurance contributions are due. Where rent is paid by the person at whose cost the accommodation is provided (for example, the employer or an employee benefit trust), the tax charge is based on the actual rent paid (less any amount made good by the employee) if that is more than the "annual value" of the accommodation (section 105(2), Income Tax Earnings and Pensions Act 2003).

The Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") has handed down its decision in Adegbuji v Meteor Parking, which is authority for the proposition that the EAT might not have jurisdiction to hear fresh evidence appeals as no error of law arises where a Tribunal makes a decision on the evidence before it. The EAT can only hear appeals on matters of law, not fact.

Landlords and managing agents should be reminded to consider consulting with tenants before entering into contracts to provide services or carry out works relating to residential properties.