Employment Status: Short-term contracts and Equality Act protection

The Court of Appeal has considered whether two court interpreters could bring discrimination claims despite ostensibly being self-employed. Helen Cookson and Anna Scott report ‘A self-employed individual will be protected under the EqA only if their contract puts them under an obligation to do the work personally.’ In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal …
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Territorial Jurisdiction: Claims against directors under the Brussels Regulation

The ECJ has recently considered when the special employment jurisdiction rules in the Brussels Regulation will apply to claims against directors. Andrew Taggart, Anna Pertoldi and Donny Surtani consider the implications ‘The ECJ held that if there was a contract of employment between Mr Spies and Holterman, the employment provisions in the Brussels Regulation applied.’ …
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Employment Status: Review of workers’ rights

Oliver Spratt discusses a government review aimed at clarifying and potentially strengthening workers’ rights ‘If the proposed extension of rights and new guidance are put in place, this would be largely beneficial to both employers and employees.’ As Peter Clark J commented in the Employment Appeal Tribunal earlier this summer in Windle v Secretary of …
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Whistleblowing: Much ado about nothing?

Jillian Naylor and Michal Stein analyse the government’s response to its call for evidence on the whistleblowing regime ‘The government believes that a range of non-statutory steps could effectively meet the aim of increased public interest disclosure, through a favourable cultural change.’ In 2013/14, the employment tribunals received over 2,200 whistleblowing-related claims, with the most …
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Employment Status: New rights for partners

A recent Supreme Court ruling has finally laid to rest the difficult issue of whether an LLP member is a worker, explains Sarah Ozanne ‘The concept of “worker” under the ERA includes both employees, being those employed under a contract of employment, and a sub-category of individual who personally undertakes to provide work for another …
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The Year Ahead: Fourteen predictions for 2014

Sarah Parkin rounds up the key legal developments and cases that employment law practitioners need to be aware of next year ‘A particular issue likely to be of concern to employers is whether they will face discrimination claims if they pay enhanced maternity pay where someone is on maternity leave but do not pay the …
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Non-Employment Arrangements: What’s the status?

Susie Al-Qassab analyses recent case law and other developments affecting businesses that have significant numbers of non-employees in their workforce ‘We are seeing a backlash against the cynical and widespread shoehorning of employees into non-employment arrangements in order to avoid rights, protections and cost.’ This article is a round up of recent decisions and developments …
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Public Interest Disclosure: Reforms take effect but spotlight stays on whistleblowing

Following a string of high-profile scandals, interest in whistleblowing looks set to remain high, suggests Fudia Smartt ‘The common belief among workers that there are more risks than benefits in blowing the whistle has led to discussion about whether the UK needs to reward whistleblowers financially.’ On 2 July 1999, the Public Interest Disclosure Act …
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Employment Status: Members and partners are left whistling

The Court of Appeal has held that LLP members lose employment rights but an independent contractor surgeon is ‘a worker’, reports David Ludlow A worker is ‘to some extent at least subordinate to the employer’ whereas ‘the partnership concept is the antithesis of subordination’. Employment lawyers and tribunals regularly deal with cases in which the …
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Pensions: An employment lawyer’s guide to auto-enrolment

Christopher Hitchins and Kathryn Pickard examine the government’s scheme to encourage more workers to save for their retirement An employer must not offer a financial inducement (for example a higher salary or one-off bonus) to jobholders to encourage them to opt out of auto-enrolment. This October marked the start of mandatory pensions auto-enrolment for the …
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