Employment Law Blog

When I was a boy I used to love reading Sherlock Holmes.  This year’s Queen’s Speech reminded me very much of the celebrated passage in Silver Blaze, where Holmes unearthed an important factor in a case.  “Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?” he was asked. “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time” he replied.  “The dog did nothing in the night-time.” came the response.  “That was the curious incident”, famously retorted Sherlock Holmes.

The Outer House of the Court of Session in Scotland last week, in the case of Vaickuviene and others v J Sainsbury plc [2012] CSOH 69, decided to allow a claim against Sainsbury’s, brought by the family of one of their employees murdered by a colleague, to proceed to a full hearing.  The family is basing their claim on the UK-wide Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA 1997) and so has implications that could stretch across both sides of the border.

The Supreme Court has today handed down its long awaited decision in Seldon v Clarkson Wright & Jakes relating to whether employers can be compulsorily retired at a given age.  The case is of huge importance to all businesses as it tackles the thorny issue as to whether to retain a compulsory retirement age and, if so, whether it should be 65 or any other age.

In an unusual case, Gabriel v Peninsula Business Services, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that, in the absence of TUPE, the employment of an employee cannot be transferred from one employer to another without the employee’s consent.