Blog
From Certificates to Belief Statements: The CPS and the Limits of Forum Bar Intervention
Rebecca Niblock
30 July 2014
Legal update: A deduction for an employee’s failure to serve their notice period was not a penalty clause
Yizhen Li v First Marine Solutions
This could be a useful decision for employers, albeit with potentially limited application. Miss Li resigned from her employment with First Marine Solutions, and did not work her notice period. The employer made a deduction of one month’s salary (£5,000) from Miss Li’s final salary payment, pursuant to a clause in her employment contract. The deduction was made even though she also did not receive her notice pay for the period she did not work. This was held by the Employment Tribunal, and upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), not to be a penalty clause and so was enforceable by the employer. However, in doing so, the judge expressed to a “very real concern” about the way this particular clause was approached, and made a number of observations.
30 July 2014
Legal update: Duty to make reasonable adjustments for non-disabled employees “associated” with a disabled person
Hainsworth v Ministry of Defence
The Court of Appeal held that an employer had no duty to make reasonable adjustments for a non-disabled employee who was “associated” with a disabled person.
30 July 2014
Legal update: Age discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal
Clements v Lloyds Banking Plc & others UKEAT/0474/13
In a somewhat surprising decision, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that an age discriminatory remark made by the Claimant’s manager (which the Tribunal accepted as being age discriminatory in itself), was not the material cause of the Claimant’s resignation and subsequent claim for constructive unfair dismissal. Usually, evidence of discrimination will be sufficiently serious in itself to form the repudiatory breach of contract which allows the employee to resign and claim constructive dismissal.
30 July 2014
Legal update: TUPE transfer of employees to a parent company following a share purchase by a subsidiary
Jackson Lloyd Ltd and Mears Group Plc v Smith and others
This case involved a factual scenario that will be a familiar one to many who have been involved in share purchases, particularly where a group is purchasing a failing company.
30 July 2014
Legal update: Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill: Employment aspects
The publication of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill on 25 June 2014 has attracted substantial publicity and contains important points for both employers and employees to note. The main area of media focus are the proposals which effectively ban the use of exclusivity clauses in Zero Hours Contracts, but the Bill covers a wide range of employment issues, which we examine below.