Legal News: Employment update

Catherine McGrath rounds up recent case law and developments affecting employers and their advisers ‘The new Trade Secrets Directive covering the protection of EU companies’ trade secrets has been formally adopted and published in the Official Journal.’Dismissal of teacher who remained with her sex offender husband was indirect religious discrimination In Pendleton v Derbyshire County …
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Discrimination: Heels, hemlines and headscarves

Sarah Fitzpatrick considers the legislation and recent decisions on dress codes in the workplace ‘Dress codes can give rise to claims of unlawful discrimination on a number of grounds, including sex, religion and, not quite so commonly, disability and gender reassignment.’Over the last few months the media have featured a number of dress-code stories, including …
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Contractual Employment Policies: Court of Appeal restricts employer’s room for movement

A recent decision highlights the lack of flexibility for employers who have contractual employment policies. Liz Parkin examines the case ‘In practice, contractual terms may arise from a number of sources beyond the employment contract itself and it is these additional sources that often lead to disputes. Staff handbooks are one such source.’ Contractual terms …
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Drug Policies: The lowdown on the legal highs ban

Anna Fletcher and Connie Cliff look at how the Psychoactive Substances Act could affect employers ‘There would clearly be major damage to an organisation’s reputation and operations if its premises were shut down under a premises order as a result of an employee supplying psychoactive substances while at work.’ After some uncertainty and delay, the …
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Whistleblowing: A whistlestop tour of new rules for regulated entities

New rules require banks and other financial institutions to put extra procedures in place encouraging staff to report concerns about the business, report Nick Howard and Ben Wright ‘The new rules will not apply to UK branches of overseas banks, although the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will explore this in a future consultation, as well …
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Territorial Jurisdictions: Over the seas but not always far away

Jo Broadbent reviews two recent decisions focusing on whether individuals working abroad could bring a claim in the UK employment tribunal ‘If there is a sufficiently close connection between Great Britain and the employment, it can be presumed that Parliament intended protection against unfair dismissal to be available.’ Neither the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) …
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Health And Safety: Sentencing guidelines – new dawn or damp squib?

Chris Morrison contemplates how organisations are responding to the prospect of much tougher fines for health and safety offences ‘The prospect of a very significant fine and the requirement to make contingency plans lasting several years until the conclusion of a case will necessarily move health and safety up the organisation’s risk register to the …
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