We are no longer publishing new items on this blog. Instead, we now publish videos covering similar issues on Practical Law, see Practical Law Employment, Video and audio ..read more

Protect, the UK whistleblowing charity established to promote ethical standards of conduct and compliance with the law, will be 30 years old next year – and the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) is only five years younger.  Standards of conduct and what we mean by whistleblowing have evolved in that time. 20 years ago, most of what Protect advisers heard about was financial misconduct or patient safety. The range of concerns is now dramatically wider, from greenwashing to anti-trans discrimination. Our 2021 Impact Report shows that, since 2017, the proportion of harassment cases ..read more

There has been a significant shift in individual and societal openness around sex and gender identity in recent years. The debate is complex and inevitably there are a range of views and opinions on the issues.   Several recent employment tribunal cases have been brought by claimants who believe that a person cannot change their sex. This belief is generally referred to as “gender critical”. Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decisions have concluded that this belief is capable of protection under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) as a “philosophical belief“.  Gender critical beliefs pr ..read more

There is no denying that the UK is submerged in a cost of living crisis, with Shelter reporting an increase of 45% (since April 2022) in renters being behind with, or consistently struggling to pay, their rent (an increase to almost 2.5 million renters). It is no surprise that many are turning to second (and even third) jobs to try and increase their income.   Getting another income stream in itself may cause potential issues in terms of time (and lack of it for family and your loved ones) and increased tiredness, as well as the lack of any work-life balance, but some may see no othe ..read more

As an employment lawyer mainly practising in Scotland who is originally from Northern Ireland, I take a keen interest in how the procedure and the law differs across the legal systems of the UK and how devolution impacts the landscape.  Indeed, the separate legal systems and the doctrine of precedent can occasionally produce unusual results, which are challenging for those of us advising clients what the law actually is. At present, for example, the Court of Appeal has indicated that the Northern Irish Court of Appeal decision in Chief Constable of Police v Agnew [2019] NICA 32, [2019] IR ..read more

POLONIUS: What do you read, my lord?  HAMLET: Words, words, words.  (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)    Neurodiversity Celebration Week took place between 21 and 27 March. The following week was Autism Acceptance Week, culminating in World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April. This means neurodiversity has featured heavily on social media recently.   During Neurodiversity Celebration Week, I spent some time reflecting on my practice as an employment lawyer. Were there any areas of my work that were not particularly neurodiversity-friendly? Could I improve things for neurodiver ..read more

Vexatious claims hit the headlines last year after one claimant who was hit with a costs order for bringing yet another claim of discrimination against an unsuspecting employer went on to succeed in his appeal against the Employment Tribunal’s decision to strike out his claim. Despite previous tribunal judgments (against different employers) recording a strong suspicion that the claimant was making vexatious claims to see if he could get a settlement payment, the serial claimant won his claim for disability discrimination, after having brought at least 30 other similar claims which were usuall ..read more

Working from home has taken centre stage over the last two years. In many industry sectors, it has been necessitated by the pandemic and the restrictions on interaction and travel. It has also evolved to become the preferred way of working for vast numbers of office workers.  It isn’t limited to office environments. In April 2020, 46.6% of people in employment did some work at home, primarily because of the pandemic (see Office for National Statistics: Coronavirus and homeworking in the UK: April 2020). Around one third of those working from home worked more hours than usual. Remote schoo ..read more

The recent EAT case of Pitcher v Chancellor Masters And Scholars Of The University of Oxford (EA-2019-000638-RN; EA-2020-000128-RN) provides interesting commentary on two important issues for employment lawyers:   The extent to which the EAT will interfere with first instance decisions.  The law on justification for direct age discrimination. The appeal involved two linked cases both of which dealt with the same retirement policy, but each of which came to the opposite conclusion as to whether it could be justified. What makes this EAT decision so striking and unusual is that ..read more

ESG (environmental, social and governance) is a drum that everyone is now rightly beating.  With COP26, sewage leaks and climate change ever-present in news headlines, we could be forgiven for thinking right now that it’s all about the “E”. Well, it isn’t.  Now don’t get me wrong, the “E” is high priority, but an organisation’s social impact and approach to governance also needs to be high on the priority list as each element of ESG relies on the other in order to be truly effective. The five points below highlight just how important a role HR departments can play in an organisation ..read more