Blog
From garage to unicorn – Employment law lessons for scaling tech teams
Catherine Bourne
2 April 2014
Case Summary: Court of Appeal gives guidance on level of ‘injury to feelings’ awards
The Court of Appeal has recently given guidance as to the level of ‘injury to feelings’ award which should be made to Claimants bringing discrimination claims. In Kemeh v Ministry of Defence, the Court of Appeal applied the so-called “Vento guidelines” which were set out in the case of Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, and which have been subject to inflationary increases as set out in Da-Bell v NSPCC.
2 April 2014
Case summary: UNISON and employment tribunal fees
Employment Tribunal fees were introduced in the UK on 29 July 2013. The new fees mean that the cost of pursuing a single claim in the Employment Tribunal can be up to £1,200, depending on the category of the claim that is being brought.
UNISON recently applied for a Judicial Review to challenge the lawfulness of the new Employment Tribunal fees. UNISON argued, amongst other things, that the introduction of fees makes it excessively difficult for individuals to exercise their EU employment rights and that the fees are discriminatory, because they have a disproportionately adverse impact on protected groups, such as women.
2 April 2014
Case summary: Employer liability for victimisation after an employee has left
Rowstock Limited v Jessemey
The Court of Appeal has recently clarified the position in relation to an employer’s liability for victimisation of an employee after he/she has left his/her employment. This most usually occurs when a poor or no reference is given for employees who have brought discrimination claims.
For many years it was well understood that employees were entitled to bring victimisation claims in such circumstances, but the Equality Act 2010 (specifically Section 108(1) and 108(7)) brought about considerable confusion. The language is impenetrable and many thought, just wrong. Fortunately, the Court of Appeal has agreed.
1 April 2014
New Flexible Working Scheme coming into force on 30 June 2014
6 April 2014 marks the day when new Employment Law changes come into effect including the abolition of disability discrimination questionnaires and the power for Employment Tribunals to issue financial penalties to employers. On change that was due to come into force in April 2014, but which has been put back to 30 June 2014 is the revamp of the flexible working regime. As these changes will come into force in a few months’ time, now is a good opportunity to consider the issues and how to deal with them.
14 March 2014
Employment tribunal statistics – the reckoning
The Employment Tribunal statistics were released today. For some they have been a long time coming. Despite a whole host of caveats introduced into the commentary, the numbers are very stark. In short, the number of claims received by the Employment Tribunals between October and December 2013 was 79% fewer than in the same period of 2012, and 75% fewer than last quarter. People have been saying for a long time that since the introduction of fees into the Tribunal last July, ET claims have “fallen off a cliff”. We now know they are right.