February 2014 #147 – Law Journals

Disability Discrimination: Employers must make up their own minds

A recent case has highlighted the risks for employers of simply rubber stamping what their occupational health advisers tell them, reports Richard Barker ‘Employers need to ask occupational health advisers specific questions about the nature of the employee’s illness, its prognosis and its effect on the particular employee. It should then use the answers provided …

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Agency Workers: A permanent loophole

A recent EAT case has revealed a gap in the protection for agency workers who work ‘indefinitely’ for the hirer, explains Sarah Ozanne ‘Workers employed by an agency and provided to a hirer can find themselves on much reduced pay and conditions compared to other staff employed by the hirer.’The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (the …

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Post-Termination Restrictions: A year in the garden

Gary Freer considers a recent High Court ruling on whether a 12-month garden leave clause was reasonable ‘The employer needs a reasonable period in which to establish a relationship between the new investment manager and the clients. Some factors, such as personal chemistry, are immediate. However others, such as demonstrating integrity, reliability and good performance, …

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Shares For Rights: Necessary reform or damaging for growth?

Tom Flanagan highlights some of the dangers from the so-called shares for rights contracts ‘It is an odd idea that an apparent benefit should be paid for by giving up valuable statutory employment rights.’The introduction of controversial laws on 1 September 2013 that enabled workers to give up basic employee rights in exchange for shares …

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Religion Or Belief: Forgetting the Sabbath day

Employers need to take care over Sunday working despite a recent ruling that a Christian care worker did not have to be given the day off, warns Philippa O’Malley ‘The tribunal held that the requirement to work on Sundays was a proportionate method for the council to achieve its legitimate aims. Mrs Mba had suggested …

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Public Interest Disclosure: Whistleblowing Commission proposes further changes

Tara Grossman and Nick Wright examine proposals to reform the UK’s workplace whistleblowing regime ‘The Commission clearly considered that workplace whistleblowing arrangements need to be improved to encourage whistleblowing and appropriate responses from employers.’In the wake of recent scandals in both the public and private sectors, the government is again looking at whether the UK’s …

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Sick Pay: Carry-over arguments carry on despite EAT decision

Chris Wellham reviews the current position on annual leave and sickness absence in light of a series of European and domestic rulings ‘The simple conclusion from Sood Enterprises Ltd v Healy [2013] is that employees who are unable to take their holiday due to illness are entitled to carry over only up to four-weeks’ holiday …

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Holiday Pay: An ‘inconvenient aspect’

Will Winch discusses recent rulings on how overtime and commission affect the calculation of annual leave payments ‘For the aims of the Working Time Directive to be met, workers must be properly paid during their leave, or else they will be deterred from taking it.’ For employment lawyers, the idea of a holiday may be …

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