Found by Cardiff magistrates court, a bar manager was left with severe anxiety, PTSD as well as a partial face paralysis after being choked by one of the colleagues at an office Christmas party. She was later constructively unfairly dismissed from work. Following a hearing in November by Judge Frazer, it was decided that Molly Phillip’s resignation was an unfair dismissal after the bosses failed to investigate her complaint properly. …
Recently, in the court of Appeal, an insurance broker was ordered to repay a £500,000 bonus after he lost the case against his employer. The court ruled that his employment ended one day before the stipulated contract instead of the day after. Insurance firm JLT Speciality hired James Craven who was paid the bonus amount on a predefined condition that he must not leave the job on or before 31st …
Following a case in the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court has decided to check thousands of employment contracts for their use of restrictive covenants, popularly known as non-compete clauses. This could result in a thousand of clauses being voided. The landmark case Tillman vs Egon Zehnder Ltd serves as a reminder to employers upon how sensitive the wordings of these clauses can be. The clause was held in Court …
You’ve just been fired for ‘gross misconduct.’ But before we can address this let’s consider: What does gross misconduct dismissal actually mean? A situation where an employer terminates the contract of an employee is known as dismissal. In an ideal environment, dismissal should be the last resort after all other redressal tactics have failed to work like an informal meeting to resolve the issue followed by a formal disciplinary action. …
As the new year, 2019 unfolds the employment sector in the UK witnesses an unusual “landmark discrimination case” concerning whether veganism should be considered a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010. Jordi Casamitjana was sacked by the League Against Cruel Sports citing gross misconduct after he disclosed that his employers had invested pension funds in firms that were involved in animal testing. In his statement, Casamitjana claims that he …
On the 14th November 2018 the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), in the case of Addison Lee Ltd v Lange and Ors, upheld an employment tribunal’s decision that private hire drivers working for Addison Lee are ‘workers’ and so are entitled to the ‘national minimum age’ and ‘paid annual leave.’ The EAT delivered its verdict stating that the Claimants were limb (b) workers and thus are entitled to holiday pay and …
Under the Equality Act 2010, if you have a physical or mental impairment which has substantial and long term negative effects on your ability to perform normal daily functions, you can be considered disabled. What does ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ mean ‘substantial’ means more than minor, for example, it may take much longer for a person with substantial disability to get dressed as compared to others. Long term impairment means for …
It has been accepted, considering the various cases in the past, that there is nothing like unfettered discretion by an employer with regards to the payment of bonuses. A myriad of decisions in the court have decided that employers should exercise discretion on good grounds. Therefore, if an employee meets a criteria for a bonus, there must be a valid reason for not paying that bonus, in order to show …
What is banter? Banter is defined as a playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks, all done in a good humour. Banter is common in many workplaces, and in fact, healthy banter can be good for the organisation, as well as the employees. Therefore banter is considered acceptable in many workplaces. But, can there be a situation where banter may legally be unacceptable, or considered harassment of an employee? What …
A withdrawal of a person’s employment or occupation from their active working life, due to a certain age, is known as retirement. A person may be fully or semi-retired as per the employer’s policy. Recently the minimum age of retirement, which was 65 years previously, has been abolished. This implies that an employer cannot force an employee to quit their job, solely on the basis of their age. Many people …