Employment Law Explained

Category Archives: News

Worker Insecurity at 20 Year High

That was a rather depressing headline in the Financial Times over the weekend. According to the 2012 Skills and Employment Survey “Britain’s employees are feeling more insecure and under pressure at work than any time in the past 20 years”.  Public sector workers are also more worried than those in the private sector about losing their jobs and status.

The reason for this is is a combination of recession and low growth, as well as “work intensification” i.e. working harder and with less autonomy over how to do the work. However, for some the restrictions on individual employment rights was an issue,

How to Resign

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Employment lawyers can get very excited about clients resigning from employment.  How much notice has to be given or why the person is resigning are often key questions; legal claims may be envisaged as a consequence of resigning. For instance, when an employment relationship has gone seriously pear shaped, careful consideration may be given to resigning immediately and claiming constructive dismissal.  In most cases then the discussion is about timing, or the reason for leaving.

C’Mon Everybody … Do the Harlem Shake

 CMon Everybody ... Do the Harlem Shake   unfair dismissal news

What do an Oxford Librarian, a school teacher and a group of miners in Western Australia have in common?

Answer: they’ve all been sacked for performing the Harlem Shake at work.

The Harlem Shake, m’lud, is the latest You Tube craze in which groups of people dance in a wild, unco-ordinated fashion, in fancy dress,  to a piece of music by a fellow called Baauer. It’s not to be confused with the song “Harlem Shuffle” by the Rolling Stones, a band with whom you might be familiar m’lud.  Yes, you may have seen it at the English National Ballet, m’lud.

Something for the Weekend 2

 Something for the Weekend 2   news

It’s been a colourful week for ukemplaw. A tale of  Apprentices, sharks and headmasters being sacked for wearing Hawaiian shirts and pink socks. There’s also a good deal of symmetry, with both cases below involving husband and wife teams dismissed for alleged misconduct, and both couples coming from Wales.

On more serious matters, gagging clauses in NHS compromise agreements have been abolished and the new, lighter, thinner, smarter etc Tribunal rules due to come into force next month, have now been been delayed until the summer, rather than the week after next.

The Apprentice Gets the Wrong Headlines

englisharticle 0 18742CFA000005DC 267 634x469 The Apprentice Gets the Wrong Headlines   the apprentice news

This week is National Apprenticeship Week, which in an unhappy coincidence of timing follows on directly from “Ex-Apprentice’s Week” last week.  Last Tuesday The Guardian and others reported on “The Apprentice” Series 6 winner Stella English’s Employment Tribunal appointment with Lord Sugar. She complained that she had been treated as an “overpaid lackey”, her job was a sham and there was nothing for her to do. She claims to have only met the great man five times during her tenure, firstly with Viglen and then You-view, both Sugar group companies.  Her contract was not renewed and she brought proceedings for constructive unfair dismissal. For some acerbic comments by Darren Newman on English’s case read here.

Alice in Wonderland visits Ukemplaw

 

 Alice in Wonderland visits Ukemplaw   news employment law reform 2

 

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”
― Lewis CarrollAlice in Wonderland

 

 

There are times – many times – when I think I’m going mad and yesterday was one of them. The Department for Business Innovation & Skills published a study called The Employer Perceptions and Impact of Employment Regulation study.

Government’s Jobseekers Scheme Ruled Unlawful

caitreilly download Governments Jobseekers Scheme Ruled Unlawful   politics news

The main employment law news yesterday was the story about Cait Reilly winning her case in the Court of Appeal against the decision to make her work in Poundland for nothing, apart from the right to continue receiving Jobseekers Allowance.  The facts have been well trailed so I won’t refer to them here, save to say that this wasn’t really an employment law case or an employment law issue. Instead it was a political story about how the Government failed to properly implement a controversial scheme.

Disgruntled employees beware!

iStock 000005383401XSmall Disgruntled employees beware!   news disciplinary grievance procedures

 

Quick quiz

If you’re unhappy at work because you don’t receive a pay rise do you;

            (a) Have a quiet word with your boss

            (b) File a grievance

            (c) Sue them

            (d) Resign

            (e) Spend three years spraying Cilit Bang into your employer’s servers causing £32,000  worth of damage and repeated computer failures?

If (e) seems like the ideal option, let me caution you against it. The Daily Telegraph reported on how one Edward Sobolewski who worked at an Oxford market research firm, poured the cleaning fluid into the computers, or sprayed it through the grills, over a three year period and was eventually caught when the company installed CCTV.

Compensatory Award to Increase Despite Hard Times

charlesdickenshardtimes 1 Compensatory Award to Increase Despite  Hard Times   practice procedure news employment law reform 2

 

From 1st February 2013 an Employment Tribunal will be able to award no more than £74,200 (currently £72,300) by way of a compensatory award in unfair dismissal cases.  In discrimination and whistleblowing cases there is no cap on the maximum amount of the award.

The maximum amount of a week’s pay, used to calculate the statutory redundancy payment and also the Basic and Additional Awards will also increase from £430 to £450 per week.

How to Price Failure?

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Should George Entwhistle, the recently departed Director General of the BBC have been paid £450,000 upon resigning from the corporation? The figure is said to represent one year’s salary and seems extraordinarily generous for someone who had been in post for 54 days (although he has had a long career at the BBC in other roles) and has hardly shone in the role.