2024 was an eventful year in the employment law world. With the changes envisaged by the Employment Rights Bill, the new duty to prevent sexual harassment and changes to holiday, family leave and tips, it’s been a time of learning, adapting and implementing. So, if you missed them the first time around, here’s a look back at BDBF’s top 5 most read articles of 2024.
1. Failure to greet a colleague could lead to a constructive dismissal claim
In the recent case of Hanson v Interaction Recruitment Specialists Ltd an Employment Tribunal found that a failure to say “hello” to a colleague was conduct likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence between employer and employee. Whilst the conduct by itself was not a fundamental breach of contract, it contributed to a breach which led to an employee’s constructive dismissal.
The mandatory duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work came into force on 26 October 2024. New and updated guidance for employers was published covering both the scope of the new duty and how to manage compliance. In this briefing, we rounded up the key points of interest.
3. The Court of Appeal rules on the meaning of a fair redundancy process
The Court of Appeal has held that a fair redundancy process requires individual consultation to take place at a point when the employee still has a chance to influence the outcome. However, consultation with the wider workforce is not usually required in small-scale redundancy exercises.
On 21 October 2024 the Department for Business and Trade opened a consultation on proposals for further reforms to the rules on collective redundancy consultation and fire and rehire (the Consultation). The Consultation ran for just six weeks, closing on 2 December 2024. In this briefing, we explained what was proposed and what it means for employers.
5. New law on tipping due to come into force on 1 October 2024
The Government introduced regulations which will brought the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 into force on 1 October 2024, applying to tips paid on or after that date. The Act requires employers to ensure that workers receive tips in full, and that they are allocated in a fair and transparent way. Our briefing note provided a quick reminder of what the new law is all about.
BDBF is a law firm based at Bank in the City of London specialising in employment law. If you would like to discuss any issues relating to the content of these articles, please email info@bdbf.co.uk or your usual BDBF contact.
