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By Liam - Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Further to Sarah’s blog this morning, the PJH Law team (well Nicky at least) are getting in to the Christmas spirit……
Getting in to the Christmas Spirit
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By Sarah - Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year from all the team at PJH Law. We will be closing at 4.30pm today and will re-open at 8.30am on 2nd January 2009.
The team have had a great 2008 with a couple of awards under our belt so onwards and upwards for 2009, although we are not sure the Law Society Award for Excellence in Client Service can be topped given its the holy grail.
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By Emma - Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
An advertisement in the legal press for Employment Judges earlier this month has resulted in concern and comment for its wording. The advert started “Can you put right the wrongs?” and continued “We all know someone who has been unfairly treated at work, but we often feel helpless to do anything about it. If you are a barrister, solicitor or Fellow of ILEX and have a passion for upholding the rights of workers, then why not consider a move into the Employment Tribunal?”
Hang on a minute I hear you say, surely the whole point of the Tribunal system is that Employment Judges are independent and impartial. They establish the facts of a case and apply the law. The starting point should never be that one party has been wronged. It is of course the case that some employees are treated badly at work but it is equally the case that some employers who treat their employees very well still end up having claims brought against them.
The advert was taken up by Joshua Rozenberg, the legal correspondent at the Daily Telegraph (see here) and the Judicial Appointments Commission, who placed it, has now removed the offending wording from the details on its website.
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By Sarah - Monday, December 22nd, 2008
Even us lawyers don’t always get the law right, as the latest judgment on age discrimination shows. Clarkson Wright & Jakes (a law firm) decided to retire one of the partners, Mr Seldon, at the age of 65 as they were entitled to do under their partnership agreement.
Mr Seldon alleged age discrimination. The Employment Tribunal found that this treatment was directly discriminatory but that it was justified. In part this was justified on the basis that performance trails off around this age!! The Claimant appealed and the Equality and Human Rights Commission intervened.
The EAT held that the assumption that performance dropped off at the age of 65 was not based on any evidence and involved stereotyping. (This of course what the legislation is designed to prevent.) In principle, such a rule could be justified but it was not justified in this case. It was remitted back for the Tribunal to consider whether the need to achieve a legitimate aim was sufficient to justify the rule. The case also gives some guidance on the test for justification on direct age discrimination which practitioners may find helpful
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By Sarah - Friday, December 19th, 2008
We often get asked how to calculate an employee’s statutory redundancy payment. This is based on age and length of service and gross weekly pay. BERR have a helpful tool called the redundancy calculator which employers may find useful.
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By Sarah - Friday, December 19th, 2008
A lot of companies have now had their Christmas parties. Last night we all went to Hollywood at Porchester Hall in London. We attended a shared Christmas party event with 31 other tables and many different companies. Nicky, as dedicated as ever, proceeded to hand out some business cards at the end of the night which created a few laughs. However, she did have a point given some of the antics going on at some of the tables (not the PJH Law table I must add)
There were some interesting boys grabbing girls under a sprig of mistletoe they held out in hope. With the booze flowing I am sure there will be plenty of stories going back to the different offices today. This can be a busy time of the year for employment lawyers dealing with the after effects of the Christmas do!
There will always be one and hopefully they are not at your company. Many a story of the drunk reportee propositioning the boss, the employee dancing on the table, the drunken brawl, you name it we have seen it. Let’s hope you don’t become one of our funny Christmas stories!
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By Nicky - Friday, December 19th, 2008
Personnel Today report that the government have been criticised for restricting the number of migrants entering the UK from Bulgaria and Romania. There is concern that in restricting the number of workers entering the UK, but not restricting the numbers of self employed, may result in more migrants claiming self employed status whether correct or not.
This in turn would not assist the government in trying to protect the UK workforce in light of the current economic climate, and could produce further problems for both employers and workers .
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By Nicky - Thursday, December 18th, 2008
The European Parliament yesterday voted for the UK’s working week to be limited to an average of 48 hours. This decision is subject to great criticism from employers who claim that individuals choose to work longer hours for a number of reasons including furthering their careers and to earn extra monies. It is believed by some employers that taking away an individuals right to choose to work additional hours may cause a backlash with lower paid individuals who rely on overtime demanding higher wages to compensate them.
This European Parliament’s decision will now be transferred to the European Council to discuss further before reaching a final decision. In any event even if the opt out provision is scrapped then it will not be until 2011 at the earliest before it would become UK legislation.
For further details please refer to Personnel Today.
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By Philip - Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
When reading books it’s always enjoyable to stumble across a new word. One I found yesterday was trilemma.
My trilemma is when to use this new word:
1. In speech?
2. In a letter?
3. Or on the blog?
Having decided against 1, I then had a dilemma, which I then resolved by tossing a coin.
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By Liam - Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
ACAS, at the request of the Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs, Pat McFadden MP, has published a new draft code of practice covering guidance on managing provisions for time off, training and facilities for union representation purposes. The code is only a draft at the moment and employers have until 16 March 2009 to pass comment before the code is reviewed and published in its final form. Get your comments in to ACAS by following the instructions here.
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