Blog
From garage to unicorn – Employment law lessons for scaling tech teams
Catherine Bourne
11 November 2019
Two years after #MeToo: is there a case for banning relationships at work?
The current discussion around the dismissal of McDonald's boss, Steve Easterbrook has focused attention on a very important point. Just what should employers be doing to ensure their workplaces reflect the current mood and culture around banishing sexual misconduct and sexual harassment?
9 August 2019
The Government publishes a response to its Consultation on NDAs aka confidentiality clauses - is it a pass or a fail?
It is undoubtedly the case that a big part of the current debate on sexual harassment in the workplace centres around non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), or confidentiality clauses as the Government prefers to call them. In some respects the issues around these clauses are matters of perception. For it has always been the case that those who sign up to these agreements are not prevented from subsequently going to the police, or speaking to the relevant Regulators, or consulting their medical practitioner for the purposes of obtaining medical advice or making a “protected disclosure” pursuant to our “whistleblowing” legislation.
10 July 2019
What have we learned from the Senior Managers and Certification Regime?
With the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) due to be extended to all regulated financial services firms in six months’ time (9 December 2019), we reflect on three key learning points from the regime which has already been in place for banks, building societies, credit unions and PRA- designated investment firms since March 2016.
15 May 2019
Tribunal orders injury to feelings award for employee who was asked to keep her sexuality a secret
Last month, an Employment Tribunal ordered an employer to pay a former employee the sum of £8,000 (plus interest), in the form of an injury to feelings award, following its earlier judgment that the employee had been directly discriminated against on the basis that she was a lesbian. This was despite the fact that there was no evidence that the discriminator was in any way prejudiced against lesbian employees.
14 May 2019
WhatsApp messages: a treasure trove of evidence in team moves
The Court of Appeal’s judgement in Forse & ors v Secarma Ltd & ors is an important case on springboard injunction applications in employee competition and team move cases. It is also a prime example of how WhatsApp messages can provide crucial evidence in such cases.
