News

Last week it was announced that two government departments have received fines amounting to £1.5 million pounds for breaching the off-payroll contract rules. The breach that gave rise to the Ministry of Defence’s fine was due to failing to seek assurance from a number of workers on their tax arrangements as a result of an […]

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) is a paid family friendly leave that mothers and their spouses/partners may take when the baby is due on or after 5th April 2015. The idea is to give parents a choice in how to look after their offspring during the first year of life. As a result, assuming eligibility criteria […]

Employees have the right to be accompanied by specific companions to meetings, where that meeting could result in formal warnings and disciplinary actions. Until recently the companion chosen by the employee was subject to a test of reasonableness and, further, employers could refuse the presence of certain companions. This meant that, where there was a […]

How much should employers expect to recover when an employee leaves the company, breaches contractual restrictive covenants and, for example, solicits clients, poaches staff, uses confidential information or joins a competitor? Typically, a degree of secrecy will be involved and the breach may not become apparent for some time after the event. Consequently, it can […]

Towards the end of last year HMRC published a consultation on the quarterly reporting obligations arising from the amendments to the agencies tax legislation introduced by the Finance Act 2014. Consequently, where an intermediary has a contract with the hirer to provide an individual’s services, the intermediary must provide HMRC with specific details relating to […]

An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling on whether the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations 2006 (TUPE) applied to a given set of facts raises some interesting questions as to whether the legislation could actually apply, and protect, an umbrella company contractor, ie: an employee of the umbrella working for a third party hirer. […]

In force from 8th January 2015, the government has introduced the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 which: (1) limit all unlawful deduction claims to the period of two years before the date that a claim form is lodged; and, (2) explicitly state that the right to paid holiday is not incorporated as a term […]

From the 5th January 2015 a vacant position in Great Britain may not be advertised overseas unless it has been advertised, in English, in Great Britain at the same time as it is advertised in the European Economic Area (EEA) or for at least 28 days in English, in Great Britain before being advertised in […]

Yesterday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that obesity, unlike sex, race or age, is not in itself a characteristic which attracts the protection of discrimination laws.  However, if severe enough, it could be a type of disability which is protected. This could be the case even where there is no medical condition related […]

The costs associated with employment tribunals and any appeals were previously the responsibility of the taxpayer, this was the position until the 29 July 2013 when the Government introduced fees for such claims made to the employment tribunal. This fee scheme was recently brought to the High Court in application for judicial review. The trade […]

Here we round up some of the significant employment law decisions expected in 2015, including legal cases pending on the calculation of holiday pay and the interpretation of the AWR.  Other notable employment judgments expected in 2015 cover: adjustments for disabled people; the meaning of disability; caste discrimination; age discrimination in retirement; equal pay and […]

BIS has announced that the anticipated consultation on changes to the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 will not be published until the New Year to ensure that there is sufficient time for the consultation to take place (8 to 12 weeks). As a result any changes will be implemented in the […]

Hot on the heels of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling that means compulsory overtime must be included in holiday pay calculations when considering ‘normal remuneration’, a second decision has extended the principle relating to the conditions under which a worker is entitled to carry leave over into the following leave year. The Court of […]

Referring to the recently announced consultation “Duty to report on Payment Practices”, the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) welcomed it as the first step towards addressing certain key issues affecting temporary labour supply chains as well as the broader payments picture. “Since the emergence of the RPO and master vendor model (RPO) within the recruitment […]