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Matthew Ramsey and Jenny Steer consider how employers should respond if an employee is arrested or charged with an offence by the police ‘The statutory ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures sets out the essentials of a reasonable investigation. The precise requirements of the process will vary from case to case, but …
Continue reading "Disciplinary Procedures: Dismissing for criminal behaviour"
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Stephen Ratcliffe and Colin Leckey examine the impact of a recent Supreme Court decision about when courts and tribunals should disregard express written contractual terms ‘The Supreme Court’s decision provides welcome clarification of the circumstances in which an employment relationship may arise even where this contradicts express written terms.’ The Supreme Court in Autoclenz Ltd …
Continue reading "Employment Status: Are contract terms worth the paper they’re written on?"
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Anne Sammon looks at the latest moves aimed at increasing the number of women in senior positions in UK and European companies ‘No longer is board diversity being seen as just an equality issue. It is now also being seen as crucial for corporate governance, with increasing amounts of research suggesting that gender diversity on …
Continue reading "Gender Equality: Achieving diversity across the board"
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A recent EAT ruling means that the repealed statutory retirement procedures could come back to bite employers, warn Michael Cole and Charlotte Stafford ‘Under the Regulations, employers needed to serve employees with notice of retirement six to 12 months before the intended date of retirement.’ In the diary of most employers, 5 April 2011 was …
Continue reading "Retirement Notices: Moving the goalposts"
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The presence of a person on an employer’s grievance hearing panel who was perceived to be biased could amount to a fundamental breach of contract and give rise to a constructive unfair dismissal, explains David Ludlow ‘The principles of natural justice require that the hearing afforded to the employee is, in all the circumstances, a …
Continue reading "Grievance Hearings: Beware of apparent bias"
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Kate Barker and Jo Broadbent examine the use of dismissal and re-engagement on less pay as a way of avoiding redundancies ‘Tribunals will adopt the wrong approach if they set the hurdle too high in determining whether an employer’s reasons for a change justify subsequent dismissals.’ In these troubled economic times employers are continuing to …
Continue reading "Changing Terms And Conditions: Going down"
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Most employees will not be entitled to a lawyer at disciplinary hearings following an important Supreme Court ruling, reports Laura Kearsley ‘The employer should try to accommodate the chosen representative unless they would prejudice the hearing or create a conflict of interest.’ Employees’ right to be accompanied at formal disciplinary and grievance meetings is well …
Continue reading "Right To Be Accompanied: New guidance on legal representation"
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Employers need to take care when monitoring employees or hiring private investigators to gather evidence about their activities, warn David Green and Caroline Buckley ‘More sophisticated technology makes it easier for employers to investigate what their employees are doing, but they do not have an unfettered right to monitor individuals’ activities.’ In a recent case, …
Continue reading "Surveillance At Work: Watching the detectives"
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Preventing a Muslim employee from leaving a site he was guarding to attend Friday prayers has been found to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, explains Bob Fahy ‘In Cherfi v G4S Security Service Ltd, the EAT did not seem to hold the tribunal to a particularly rigorous standard when it came …
Continue reading "Religious Discrimination: Weighing workers’ rights against operational needs"
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Russell Brimelow, Gemma Chubb and Rachel Rooksby give their tips on how to manage a cross-border workforce successfully ‘If an employer managing a multinational workforce remembers one thing, it should be that Europe’s myriad of employment laws is like its flags – different from country to country.’ Inevitably, the international labour market has changed significantly …
Continue reading "International Labour Law: Acting global, thinking local"
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