Blog
From garage to unicorn – Employment law lessons for scaling tech teams
Catherine Bourne
31 July 2014
Bonus clawbacks – what you need to know if you work in finance
Most of us would be somewhat miffed if our employer tried to make us pay back the bonus we were awarded 7 years ago. However, this week, the Bank of England (BoE) announced the publication of two joint consultation papers from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that aim to do just that. Although in many ways yesterday’s proposals are a watered down version of the plans outlined by the BoE earlier this year, they mean that the UK faces some of the toughest rules in the world in relation to the clawing back of bankers’ bonuses.
30 July 2014
UK LLPs watch out - All partners are now ‘workers’
The Supreme Court’s decision in Bates van Winklehof v Clyde & Co is good news for both LLPs and their members. All LLP members, whatever their level of seniority, who seek in good faith to expose potential wrongdoing, will now be protected from detrimental treatment.
This article first appeared in Managing Partner in June 2014.
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.