The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2012 SI 2012/3007 has been published. The Order will increase the limits on certain employment tribunal awards and other amounts payable under employment legislation from 1 February 2013. The notable changes are: • the limit on the amount of a week’s pay for the purposes of calculating, among[…]
The Government has responded to its consultation on employee ownership which allows employees to give up some employment rights, such as unfair dismissal, in return for shares. The Government intends to implement the policy, despite 92 per cent of respondents viewing the plans in a negative or mixed way. Among other things, the Government response[…]
European Commission proposes Directive to increase women’s representation on boards
LATEST NEWS Nov 15, 2012
The European Commission has proposed a Directive to increase women’s representation in non-executive board-member positions to 40 per cent in publicly listed companies, with the exception of small and medium enterprises. Member States would be exempted from the proposed means to achieve this if they put in place measures to improve women’s representation on company[…]
Government to introduce flexible parental leave and the right to request flexible working for all
LATEST NEWS Nov 13, 2012
The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has announced that, from 2015, the UK will have a new system of flexible parental leave. The Government will also legislate to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees from 2014. The remaining element of the delayed response to the ‘Modern Workplaces’ consultation, on reforming the[…]
Paid annual leave may be calculated on pro rata basis for zero-hours contracts
LATEST NEWS Nov 12, 2012
In Heimann and anor v Kaiser GmbH the ECJ has held that calculating the paid annual leave of workers on short-time working on a pro rata temporis basis did not breach EU law. ECJ case law requiring the accrual of paid annual leave in full while on sick leave was of a fundamentally different character[…]
The Government has published a consultation on the detail of implementing ‘employee owner’ status. Under the proposals, the Employment Rights Act 1996 will be amended to create a third employment status of ‘employee owner’ in addition to that of employee or a worker. ‘Employee owners’ would receive between GBP2,000 and GBP50,000 worth of shares in[…]
In Birmingham City Council v Abdulla and ors the majority of the Supreme Court has held that equal pay claims, which would have been out of time in an employment tribunal, can proceed as breach of contract claims in the High Court. While the civil courts have a discretion to strike out equal pay claims[…]
Civil Aviation Regulations give effect to ECJ ruling on pilots’ holiday pay
LATEST NEWS Oct 18, 2012
In British Airways plc v Williams and ors, the Supreme Court has held that the Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004 can be interpreted so as to give effect to a judgment of the European Court of Justice whereby airline pilots’ holiday pay is not restricted to basic pay but must include flying pay supplements.[…]
The Government has announced further amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill creating, among other things, a power to issue regulations on mandatory equal pay audits for employers who lose employment tribunal claims. Other amendments include the promised removal of employer liability for harassment by third parties under the Equality Act 2010. The Government[…]
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced that the Government will not be introducing ‘no-fault dismissal’ for micro businesses following its call for evidence. The Government has also issued consultations on lowering the cap on unfair dismissal awards and Mr Justice Underhill’s proposals for reforming employment tribunal procedure. The consultation ‘Ending the Employment[…]