No matter what size your law firm is, there are ‘managers’ at all levels: support staff managing diaries, finance departments managing finances, lawyers managing their cases and partners managing lawyers. Then there are the practice managers, who are managing the managers to make sure they manage effectively.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal found that employers cannot rely on contractual summary termination clauses to dismiss an employee without notice where in reality there is no gross misconduct or negligence.
In Hazel v Manchester College, the Court of Appeal found that two employees who were dismissed for failing to agree to take a pay cut following a TUPE transfer were unfairly dismissed and entitled to reinstatement to their old terms.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that an employee who was not paid on termination of his employment for extra hours worked under a flexi-hours scheme did not suffer an unlawful deduction from wages.
In Tirkey v Chandok, it was found that a claim for caste discrimination could be brought in a Tribunal under the Equality Act 2010.
For an employee to bring a whistleblowing claim, they first need to show that they have made a qualifying disclosure. In simple terms this means that an employee has made an allegation to their employer which shows that malpractice has taken or will take place or an employee’s health and safety is at risk.
Where an employee or employer makes a statement (either in writing or orally) which attempts to settle a dispute this will be deemed to be “without prejudice” or as lawyers refer to it – “WP”. When a WP statement is made, this ordinarily means that it is off the record and is inadmissible as evidence before a court or tribunal.
In discrimination cases, employers are responsible for the actions of both employees and their agents. But who is an employer’s agent?
In Mohamud v WM Morrison, the Court of Appeal found that an employer was not vicariously liable for its employee’s physical assault on a customer because there was not a sufficiently close connection between the employee’s actions and his employment.
In Olivier v Department for Work and Pensions, the Tribunal found a strong commitment to a political party amounts to as much of a protected belief for the purposes of bringing a discrimination claim as a religious belief.
The Court of Appeal said that the concept that ‘not working on a Sunday is not core to Christian belief’ is irrelevant for Tribunals working out whether a Christian’s belief that she should not be required to work on Sundays for faith reasons should be granted.
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