I came across a whole new meaning to the word “fired” today. An ex pat who was running a struggling mill for a welsh company (his employer) in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia was on 6th July 2006 shot 4 times by unknown gunmen. Whilst he was in hospital he received a letter from his employer […]
Is there any truth in the saying that first impressions count? Emma BedfordPatel from recruitment agency Tate believes there is and offers advice in this aticle to prospective job applicants on how they can smarten up to maximise their chances of securing a job. However, from the employers view, whilst refusing someone a job on the […]
Michael Rubinstein Publishing publish a handy booklet called Equal Opportunities Review. In June’s edition they have a summary of 2008 discrimination cases heard by Tribunals. This is very useful as it allows practitioners to remind their clients, both Claimant and Respondent that large Tribunal awards for discrimination are outliers ie they are statistically possible but […]
In all forms of professional drafting spelling, punctuation and clarity are important. In this case at the EAT, an Employment Tribunal was criticised for poor spelling and punctuation. His Honour Judge Richardson wrote in the EAT judgment at paragraph 11: “The Tribunal’s reasons contain an introduction, a section entitled “the facts”, and a section entitled […]
on the employment front as new business ‘heroes’ were honoured yesterday at a reception hosted by Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson. The reception, featured today on the BIS website, brought together Britain’s most innovative entrepreneurs at Downing Street to recognise their contribution to business. Those recognised include Dragon’s Den favourites, Stephen Collins of Lazarus Mobility and […]
We anticipated in this blog at the beginning of the year the emergence of more cases illustrating the tension between (a) in the right corner: the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sex orientation and (b) in the left corner: the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of religious […]
In Mr E Ho v The University of Manchester, the EAT have followed the decision in Kelly-Madden v Manor Surgery that where an employer fails to follow the (now repealed) statutory dismissal procedure, it is not open for it to argue that failing to follow the procedure made no difference and therefore the dismissal […]
The Statutory Dismissal Procedure may be taking its last breath of air but claims are still coming through which are subject to the old rules. There seems to be some confusion from non-lawyers as to the requirements and we have recently seen all sorts of bizarre claims related to the Regulations. For the record and probably […]
One of the questions we ask employees when we are advising them on compromise agreements is: How long do you think it will take you to find another job at a comparable salary? The answer, even in this economic climate, is usually optimistic. Independent research would suggest that most employees are under-estimating the effect redundancy […]
Tribunals are loath to strike out claims without having heard the evidence unless the claim is obviously misconceived (with undisputed facts) or there have been persistent and flagrant breaches of Tribunal orders. Therefore in the overall majority of cases applying for a strike out is a waste of breath, costs and Tribunal resources. In this […]
In Briggs & Others v Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, the EAT considered an unusual decision of an Employment Tribunal. The decision was unusual because it was a majority decision (the Employment Judge dissented) meaning the two wing members took a different view to the Employment Judge and effectively overruled him. The case concerned the construction […]
In employment law terms redundancy has a specific definition. One such definition occurs where work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished or is expected to do so. Those like me who follow formula one, will know that they are bringing in new rules next year, one of which limits the amount a team […]
SkillsActive has carried out a survey of 2,000 people and found that a third admitted lying on their CV in an attempt to find a job in the recession. Apparently those in London are more likely to lie although the survey does not provide any rationale for why this may be the case. The problem is […]
The Employment Tribunal at Bury St Edmunds has made an award of compensation of over £65,000 to a black worker selected for redundancy over his white colleagues who were all found new posts. The only other black worker was also made redundant. The Tribunal found that it was likely that the employer’s operations manager subconsciously […]
