Employment Law Worldview
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The Employment Law Worldview Blog aims to interest and educate, to stimulate discussion, to provoke and sometimes just to amuse HR and other practitioners around the world. Through contributions from our own Labor & Employment lawyers, along with occasional guest writers, it provides a unique global insight into practical and legal HR issues relevant to employers everywhere.
Employment Law Worldview
2d ago
In 2010, the New York Court of Appeals (which is the highest state court in New York) established a test to determine the territorial scope of the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”) and the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) – each of which protect employees and applicants for employment from employment-based discrimination. In Hoffman v. Parade Publs., a former employee of a New York City-based company sued under the NYSHRL and NYCHRL for age discrimination after being terminated by his employer. 15 NY3d 285 (2010). The plaintiff in Hoffman alleged that the decision to termina ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
1w ago
In a decision providing significant relief for employers, a federal court in Texas struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) 2023 joint employer rule.[i] Being designated a joint employer by the NLRB can have far-reaching consequences for a business, including potential obligations to negotiate with unions representing workers not directly employed by the business and shared liability for labor law violations committed by another employer. The court’s decision puts on hold the NLRB’s rule which would have expanded employer liability under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
2w ago
Your General Counsel receives a “cease and desist” letter from a competitor, alleging that the company’s new hire from that competitor has taken trade secrets and accusing the company of misappropriation. Your company has no need for those trade secrets and wants to compete fairly. What steps can be taken to forestall litigation?
A recent ruling from the Northen District of California, Apple v. Rivos,2023 WL 5183034, at *11 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 11, 2023),provides valuable insights for companies facing potential trade secrets lawsuits even where the claims made may appear troubling on the surface a ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
2w ago
The Home Office announced a number of immigration-related changes in December 2023, including a significant increase in minimum salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas. The finer detail, in the form of new Immigration Rules, will be published on 14 March with most of the changes coming into effect on 4 April 2024. In the meantime, this is what employers should plan for in the lead up to ‘massive-hike’ day:
Increase in going rate salary thresholds for individual occupations
Attention has largely been focused on the increase in the general salary threshold for Skilled Worker visas from ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
3w ago
The use of ChatGPT and its peers to make work easier and faster – whether permitted, tolerated or prohibited – is already part of everyday working life in many companies. However, the spread of that technology has raced far ahead of the law so the legal consequences of that use (employment rights and obligations, data protection, employee inventions, etc.) are in many cases still far from clear.
In one of the first judicial decisions in this area, the Hamburg Labour Court has recently addressed one particular question remaining unresolved around the use of AI and its consequences, the extent ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
3w ago
In the third of our short series “Workplace Harassment in Germany”, Laura Sparschuh takes a look at some recent court rulings regarding harassment.
Awareness of workplace harassment as an issue in Germany has significantly increased over the past couple of years. In many cases of sexual harassment in particular, employers keen to be seen to take a hard line will often discipline or terminate the harassing employee without notice. In this article, we investigate a number of court decisions regarding workplace harassment to provide an overview of how far societal changes of attitude towards tha ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
1M ago
Rule 37 of the 2013 ET Rules of Procedure contains the Tribunal’s nuclear deterrent, the power to strike out part or all of a claim or defence. That big red button can only be pushed for a small number of specified reasons including (for today’s purposes) Rule 37(b) that the manner in which proceedings have been conducted has been scandalous, unreasonable, or vexatious; or 37(e) that the Tribunal considers that it is no longer possible to have a fair hearing of the claim. These appear to be separate grounds, such that (b) doesn’t require prejudice to a fair hearing while (e) does. However, es ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
1M ago
This week saw the issue of what will probably be the final version of the Government’s statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement. This follows the consultation on an earlier version which we covered here.
The new Code comes accompanied by some Guidance which is an unusually, in fact disconcertingly, helpful summary of the changes which have been made (and not) and the reason for them. In no particular order:-
The Government has rejected suggestions made via that consultation that the employer should only be able to fire and re-hire where it is in financial d ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
1M ago
Two recent cases on how Employment Tribunals should handle the inappropriate conduct of proceedings by claimants have shed some useful light on their more punitive powers. Both decisions made clear that the ET is far more interested in getting to a fair trial of the issue despite such conduct than in thumping claimants because of it, but equally, that there are limits.
First up, the mysterious Z v Q and others, on which the EAT ruled earlier this week. Mr Z brought a range of claims against his employer and a number of its employees, including Ms Q. They included ..read more
Employment Law Worldview
1M ago
If there was ever any doubt that Trade Unions target their dates for industrial action to cause maximum inconvenience (think train drivers striking on the day of major sporting events, or binmen striking at Christmas), then Deliveroo and other food delivery company drivers striking on Valentines Day surely put that to bed. Scant consolation for couples forced to head to the kitchen and do it themselves instead of reaching for the take-away menu for their romantic diner a deux.
The strike itself related to a demand for better pay and working conditions, so is relatively unremarkable in a time ..read more