A recent vote in the European Parliament means that the UK may be forced to limit the working week to an average of 48 hours calculated over a reference period of twelve months. MEPs also decided that on-call time should count as working time.
With 421 MEPs voting to scrap the opt-out and 273 voting to [...]

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The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) are designed to safeguard the terms and conditions of employees who transfer to new employers when a business is sold or when ownership of a business changes. Not only does this mean that, in the vast majority of cases, employees cannot be dismissed when a [...]

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The Government has recently published details of proposed changes to the limits on compensation that can be awarded by employment tribunals.
Making a wrong decision with regard to employment law can be very costly for employers, and these new figures serve to highlight this important fact.
The increases are in the main related to unfair dismissal cases [...]

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The Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) has reported that the number of people seeking advice on redundancy issues has risen sharply in recent months as a result of the current economic downturn.
The figures announced by the CAB reveal that the number of redundancy enquires in England and Wales increased by 125% between April and November this [...]

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In a recent Employment Appeal Tribunal case, a ruling was made which clarifies how the Polkey deduction should be applied in a redundancy situation where the correct procedures have not been followed.
After a significant downturn in its business, Wilson UK Ltd made Mr Little and Mr Turton redundant, but, in doing so, failed to follow [...]

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Strike-outs are rare in employment law cases, as they are generally seen as a very serious step which should not be undertaken lightly. A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case has demonstrated the criteria that a claim should meet for it to be struck out.
In the case of Chamber-Mills v Allied Bakeries, the established position [...]

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A recent Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) case has highlighted the importance of seeking qualified legal advice when pursuing a tribunal claim.
In the case of Wright v Wolverhampton City Council, Mrs Wright brought claims of racial and sexual discrimination against her employers. Unbeknownst to her, the time limits for her claims had expired on January [...]

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The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) surveyed 300 recruiters on recent changes in employment law and the effects they thought they would have on their business. The results showed that recruiters are concerned about issues surrounding equal pay and the granting of full employment rights to temporary workers after 12 weeks.
48% of those who responded [...]

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The Queen announced the government’s legislative plans for the coming year in her speech on Wednesday, which included three important employment law developments: the introduction of the Welfare Reform Bill, the Equality Bill and flexible working proposals.
The Welfare Reform Bill is designed to help the long-term unemployed to return to work. It will introduce more [...]

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Last week, the details of 12,000 British National Party members were leaked on the Internet, raising important employment law issues over how employers should react when they discover that an employee has controversial political affiliations.
In the public sector, many organisations have clear policies in place to deal with this kind of situation. The police, for [...]

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