Employment Law Explained

Employer vs Employee: The Saga Continues

Posted on 31/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 3 Comments

The government last week announced that it intends to shake up employment law practice and procedure with a consultation trying to rebalance the rights of employer and employee. It’s the latest episode in the long-running saga “does the law favour employees too much?”

I suspect that there is much political posturing in the consultation and I would be surprised if some aspects survive the consultation process. The headlines have been well trailed already: here is my take on the main points that caught my eye.

Issue Fees – how much is too much?

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Filed Under: News, Practice & Procedure

A Clash of Cultures: Gay Rights vs Religious Belief

Posted on 24/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 3 Comments

iStock 000004217821XSmall A Clash of Cultures: Gay Rights vs Religious Belief religion and belief discrimination equality

There was  a lot of coverage last week in the media on the outcome of the case of Hall & Preddy v Bull & Bull involving the clash of religious beliefs and gay rights.  It wasn’t an employment case but a dispute over discrimination (against a homosexual couple) in service provision, in this case Mr & Mrs Bull, a devout Christian couple who ran a B&B and refused to allow Mr Hall and Mr Preddy to stay in their B&B because it offended their religious beliefs.

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Filed Under: Equality, Religion and Belief Discrimination

Termination Payments: Taxing Times Ahead for Employers

Posted on 20/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 1 Comment

Termination Payments: Taxing Times Ahead for Employers redundancy practice procedure

How much tax should employers deduct from termination payments? HMRC have announced a change to  the way that lump sum termination payments have to be taxed by employers from this coming April.

As is well known, the first £30,000 of a compensation payment can be paid free of income tax and national insurance contributions, provided that it is paid as compensation for “loss of office” or employment. This commonly applies on redundancy, but can apply in other situations too.

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Filed Under: Practice & Procedure, Redundancy

Miriam O’Reilly: The BBC Thinks We’re to Blame

Posted on 14/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 3 Comments

Miriam OReilly: The BBC Thinks Were to Blame news age discrimination

I was pleased to see that Miriam O’Reilly won her age discrimination claim against the BBC.  At first glance, the fact that she was replaced by a younger man and woman whilst the veteran John Craven remained in place, didn’t look like the easiest of claims with which to succeed.

However, the fact that a BBC executive told her to “watch those wrinkles when HD comes in” and another told her it was “time for Botox” was pretty helpful ammunition for her.

This is a preview of Miriam O’Reilly: The BBC Thinks We’re to Blame. Read the full post (349 words, 1 image, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)
Filed Under: Age Discrimination, News

Conviction: How the Law Failed One Man

Posted on 12/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 5 Comments

Miscarriages of justice might not have been in the news quite so much just recently, but a new film on that subject is out this week: Conviction, starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell.  It’s about an innocent American man called Kenny Waters who is  sent to prison for a murder he did not commit and it will, no doubt, raise concerns  not just about the American legal system and lawyers, but legal systems everywhere.  Heaven knows in this country we have nothing to be proud of on this subject.

This is a preview of Conviction: How the Law Failed One Man. Read the full post (298 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)
Filed Under: Films, jobsworth, Miscellaneous Stuff, News

How do You Spot a Whistleblower?

Posted on 07/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 3 Comments

iStock 000002446040XSmall How do You Spot a Whistleblower? news

The BBC reports today that the US government is trying to develop tests to spot whistleblowers, aka  ”moles” or “insider threats” as they’re now called (mole was so much better).  Psychiatrists and Sociologists are being called on to identify those people who might be tempted to download the contents of their hard drives to Wikileaks.

The report quotes one US “expert” as saying there is a type of person who might leak information.  They may be “disgruntled” (no, really?) and;

“It may be that they are very angry, there are a lot of outbursts, sometimes their performance goes downhill… Sometimes they deliberately start sabotaging someone else’s work,”

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Filed Under: News

Parasites and Legal Rights

Posted on 05/01/2011 by Michael Scutt • 3 Comments

iStock 000011314964XSmall Parasites and Legal Rights practice procedure news

First day back from the festive break and The Times, which must be short of contributors at the moment, rehashes the old argument about employees and their lawyers holding poor innocent small businesses to ransom.

Yesterday’s edition contained an opinion piece from Helen Giles,  HR Director of a business called Broadway which apparently provides services to homeless people.  Her theme?  “Stop legal parasites feeding on small business”(*) This morning the story made it onto the Today programme on Radio 4 and a much more useful discussion, chaired by Evan Davis.

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Filed Under: News, Practice & Procedure

Turkey Time

Posted on 24/12/2010 by Michael Scutt • 1 Comment

I couldn’t resist putting up this cartoon from yesterday’s Independent.  A Lib Dem supporter was on TV last night saying this will make his party stronger.  I can’t see it myself.  Poor old Vince wasn’t the only one caught out by the Telegraph’s undercover reporter – there must have been an outbreak of Mad Turkey disease, or perhaps the Lib Dems just want to be loved?

scan0001 1024x626 Turkey Time news cartoons

Permanent link to this post (67 words, 1 image, estimated 16 secs reading time)
Filed Under: Cartoons, News

Goodbye 2010

Posted on 22/12/2010 by Michael Scutt • 2 Comments
iStock 000006284593XSmall Goodbye 2010 miscellaneous stuff

Hello, my name is Vince ...

As 2010 storms out in a blizzard of snow and ice and 2011 lurks just behind Father Christmas, it’s time to write my valedictory message for the year. Ambassadors may no longer write their final thoughts on the country in which they have been living before jetting off because of wikileaks, but this blog has no such fears.

What of 2010?  Were you paying attention?  I wasn’t, not all of the time anyway, but when I was awake these were the issues that caught my eye.

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Stuff

Blogging and the Workplace

Posted on 15/12/2010 by Michael Scutt • 2 Comments

iStock 000013670403XSmall Blogging and the Workplace unfair dismissal social media

If you’re a blogger, should what you write about online be any concern of your employer? A case before the East London ET is dealing with the vexed issue of reputational damage to an employer caused by an employee in their spare time.

Allen & Overy, the Magic Circle City law firm would say yes, having dismissed Deirdre Clarke, formerly a Senior Associate in their Moscow office and author of the Philosophy Can be Sexy blog.

This is a preview of Blogging and the Workplace. Read the full post (521 words, 1 image, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)
Filed Under: social media, unfair dismissal