Blog

In Pervez v Macquarie Bank Ltd (London Branch) and anor the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") has ruled that an employee of a Hong Kong-based company, who had employment rights under UK legislation, had to be permitted to enforce those rights in an English employment tribunal. The EAT noted that this involved a 'strained' interpretation of Reg 19(1) of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004, but decided that it would be wrong in principle for employees to enjoy legal protections that they could not enforce.

The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2010 SI 2010/2926 has now been published. The Order increases the limits on certain employment tribunal awards and other amounts payable under employment legislation from 1 February 2011.

The Minister of State for the Department for Work and Pensions, Steve Webb, has announced the proposed rates for statutory sick pay and statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay for 2011. The changes are expected to come into force on 11 April 2011.

• Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay, and Maternity Allowance, will increase from GBP124.88 to GBP128.73; and
• Statutory Sick Pay will increase from GBP79.15 to GBP81.60.

At a meeting of the EU Employment Council, a large majority of ministers rejected the European Parliament’s proposal to legislate for 20 weeks of maternity leave at full pay. They expressed concerns regarding the cost implications of extending paid maternity leave. They also rejected plans to include paternity leave in a draft Directive on maternity leave, since the main purpose of the Directive would be to improve the health and safety at work of pregnant women, not to reconcile work, family and private life.

At a meeting of the EU Employment Council, Edward Davey, Minister for Employment Relations, will lobby against the European Parliament's proposed 20 weeks of maternity leave at full pay. The Government considers that the proposals to revise the Pregnant Workers Directive (No.92/85) would impose considerable and unacceptable costs on many Member States during the recession. Costs for the United Kingdom alone are estimated at more than GBP2 billion per year.

The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that assurances given by an employer to an employee about his pension entitlement (a no detriment pension guarantee) were capable of amounting to a binding commitment that could be enforced against a transferee of the employer's business almost 20 years later. Although the pension guarantee was excluded from transferring under TUPE, it passed to the transferee by contractual novation where the transferee's holding company had promised to honour all existing pay and benefits commitments.

The Employment Appeal tribunal ("EAT") has given its decision in South Manchester Abbeyfield Society v Hopkins & Ors regarding payment for time spent on call.

The EAT has handed down its decision in Fecitt & ors v NHS Manchester, dealing with causation in whistleblowing cases.

An employee who was dismissed partly because of the way he promoted his spiritual beliefs at work has failed in his appeal against a tribunal’s decision that he was not subjected to discrimination on the ground of religion or belief. The EAT’s decision to reject the appeal, in Power v Greater Manchester Police, follows case law such as Ladele v London Borough of Islington (CA, Brief 893) and Chondol v Liverpool City Council (EAT, Brief 874) to the effect that an employer may lawfully discipline employees  for inappropriately manifesting their protected beliefs in the workplace.

Tenants of new non-residential leases should consider whether they are liable to an increased Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) liability.

The Court of Appeal has handed down its Judgment in the case of Tilson v Alstom Transport, which is authority for the proposition that a significant degree of integration of an agency worker into an organisation is not inconsistent with an agency relationship in which there is no contract between worker and end user.

An employment tribunal has found that a contestant on the televised talent show "Britain's Got Talent" was not covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The EAT has upheld a tribunal's decision that a redundant chief executive, dismissed without proper consultation so that his notice expired before he qualified for enhanced pension payments, had not suffered unlawful age discrimination because the treatment was justified.

In Tiffin v Lester Aldridge LLP, the Claimant was a fixed share partner within an LLP. When compared to the Equity Partners there was a substantial disparity between what the Claimant earned, the profits he received, his financial contribution, his involvement in the management of the LLP, and his voting rights. Despite these differences, the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") held that the Employment Tribunal ("ET") had not erred in finding that the Claimant was a partner and not an employee.

Silber J stated that, there is no statutory provision or authority which states that for a person to be a partner s/he has to have a certain minimum number or certain minimum types of rights to vote or to participate in management decisions. Nor are there any which specify that the share of profit of a person or his or her contribution must reach a certain level before s/he can be regarded as a partner.

The fact that the Claimant had those rights and duties as well as a number of others, particularly the entitlement to a residue of the firm if it was wound up, meant that there was enough evidence for the ET to arrive at the conclusion it did and their decision could not be considered to be perverse.

The High Court has handed down its decision in Lonmar Global Risks Limited v West and Others [2010] EWHC 2878.

On 8 November 2010, the Department for Communities and Local Government and Ministry of Justice jointly published an online guide aimed at helping homeowners quickly recover possession of their property from unlawful occupiers.

The High Court held that the denial of the right to make representations in advance of being included on the children's or adults' barred lists under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (SVGA) was a breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the absence of a right to an oral hearing before a decision on inclusion was taken did not itself breach Article 6 and neither did the absence of a full merits-based appeal.

The First-tier Tribunal (tribunal) has held that a taxpayer had a reasonable excuse for late filing of a land transaction return for SDLT purposes where she relied on a solicitor to file the return. This meant that the taxpayer was not liable for penalties in relation to the late filing.

John Clarke has been invited to speak to The Independant Schools Council conference in London today. This is a real coup for Maitland Walker and represents John's national reputation within his field of expertise, education and employment.

www.isc.co.uk/

The European Court has handed down its decision in Albron Catering which is authority for the proposition that the Acquired Rights Directive applies when the ownership of an undertaking is transferred by a group company, even where the employees affected are employed by another group company, provided they are assigned permanently to the undertaking being transferred.

The EAT (HHJ Ansell) has handed down its decision in County Print v Page, which is authority for the proposition that:

(i) fair consultation in a redundancy exercise involves giving an employee an explanation for his scoring and a meaningful chance to comment on the scores.

The EAT took an opportunity to review authorities in this area, and, whilst cautioning against an impermissible "microscopic analysis" of scoring by tribunals, indicated that, particularly with subjective criteria, employees should have sufficient information to understand their scores and an opportunity to challenge them.

(ii) Employers seeking to run a Polkey chance of dismissal in any event argument under Software 2000 must rely on "cogent evidence", rather than simply arguing that there was a percentage chance of dismissal. On the facts of this case, the EAT observed that it was "completely fallacious" to say that as the Claimant was in a pool of three, there was a one-in-three chance of dismissal, even on similar scores.

The EAT (HHJ Peter Clark) has handed down judgment in Weston Recovery Services v Fisher, which considered the circumstances where dismissal for conduct not amounting to gross misconduct could be fair.

It leaked at the weekend, and was confirmed this morning by Lord Young on Radio 4's Today programme. The government is actively considering increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from one year to two years. The timetable for a decision has not yet been announced, and it is likely there will be a consultation period (about this, and other employment law issues) first.

In Lancaster University v The University and College Union the Emploment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") has approved a tribunal’s decision to reduce a protective award for failing to undertake collective redundancy consultation where the union had ‘effectively condoned’ the failure. The redundancies, which arose from the expiry of fixed-term contracts, had happened regularly for over ten years and the union had only recently made a complaint about the procedure for collective consultation. The EAT therefore declined to interfere with the tribunal’s decision to award 60 days’ pay.

The ECJ has ruled on two separate cases on the nature and extent of derogations under the Working Time Directive.

The government has announced that it will not be amending the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 before they come into force in October 2011. Draft guidance is expected to be published in early 2011.

We are pleased to say that we act as a key advisor to an ambitious and exciting plan to stage a major motorsports event on the roads of Cheltenham.

The OFT has found no competition concerns in the UK pub sector and has therefore decided not to take any further action on the super-complaint lodged by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).  

The UK Supreme Court has ruled, in this case, that a pre-nuptial agreement is binding on the parties upon divorce.

Chancellor George Osborne is preparing to reveal the biggest programme of cuts in the UK for decades, in his long-awaited Spending Review.

Average budget reductions of 25% to most Whitehall departments are expected alongside welfare cuts, following months of negotiations with ministers.

Reports suggest nearly 500,000 public sector jobs will go by 2014-15.