Tribunal Fees: What price justice?

The government’s proposals to charge claimants to bring a case before the employment tribunal could do more harm than good, warns Peter Wallington QC ‘The consultation paper appears to be premised on the view that the employment tribunals are a burden on taxpayers, most of whom do not use them, and should therefore not be …
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National Minimum Wage: Untangling the work experience web

Rachel Rooksby and Carla Leonard highlight a worrying discrepancy between the government’s pledge to ensure interns receive the minimum wage and its own unpaid jobseeker schemes ‘Does the law really enable the government to tackle unpaid internships while initiating unpaid work experience schemes for jobseekers (who risk losing their benefits if they don’t take part)?’ …
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Industrial Action: More leeway for unions post-Serco

The courts are growing less willing to grant injunctions to employers to prevent strikes going ahead, explains Alice Carse ‘The courts will not interpret the balloting procedures strictly so as to disadvantage a trade union which has done its best to comply with the law. This is the case even when as much as a …
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Violence At Work: Considering the boundaries of vicarious liability

The Court of Appeal has considered the circumstances in which employers are responsible for violent acts committed by their employees, reports Fiona Clark ‘Two recent cases highlight that employers’ liability is likely to be more extensive than many of them will have anticipated. Both involved a violent reaction by an employee to an employer’s lawful …
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Nepotism: Are workplace relationship policies now Dunn with?

Benjimin Burgher considers the impact of two conflicting EAT rulings on discrimination on the ground of marital status. ‘Employers who refuse to employ a person due to marriage to a particular person, or who subject them to detriment or dismiss them, now run the real risk of being found liable for unlawful direct discrimination.’ Up …
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TUPE: When does ‘the’ mean ‘a’?

Vanessa Hogan welcomes clarification from the Court of Appeal on whether a dismissal can be connected with a transfer if no transferee has yet been identified ‘A number of EAT decisions in the 1990s examined the question of whether, in an insolvency situation, a pre-transfer dismissal can be said to be connected with a transfer …
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International Secondments: Cross-border claimants

Jemima Coleman and Justine Reeves look at overseas workers’ right to bring a complaint in the UK employment tribunal, using the example of a posting to the UAE to examine the legal and practical issues involved ‘UK companies may require advice on relocating staff, terminating international secondments or making expatriate workers redundant. Often, the local …
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