In the case of Dewhurst v Ecourier and City Sprint, the Central London Employment Tribunal has reached the dramatic conclusion that TUPE does apply to workers as well as to employees, something that has the potential to extend its scope considerably. This is only the first stage, and a long sequence of appeals is likely to follow, but the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain is backing the claimants, and it is likely to be willing to bear the cost of taking the case further. Academics have long speculated that TUPE might apply to workers, but this is the first time that anybody has been ..read more

A raft of recent legislative and cultural shifts have given rise to new approaches to working practices and guidelines in the financial services (FS) industry in the UK, Germany and Ireland.  Here, we examine some of these trends and consider how they are reshaping workplace ethos in different ways across the sector. 1. Holding senior individuals to account The first trend concerns individual accountability for senior employees – a relatively new development, where the "directing minds" of businesses can be held liable for the actions of staff who work for the companies they control. In German ..read more

On 19th August 2019 a spokesperson for the Home Office stated that Free movement will end on 31 October in the event of a no-deal Brexit.   They stated that the government will introduce a new, fairer immigration system that prioritises skills and what people can contribute to the UK, rather than where they come from. Boris Johnson has said that it doesn't mean that we are going to become hostile to immigration or to immigrants but that immigration will be democratically controlled and we will be producing an Australian-style points-based system. The Home Office said that EU citizens and their ..read more

The Sunday Times reported on a survey which found that 40% of male managers in the UK say that, since the inception of the #metoo movement, they are uncomfortable participating in normal work activities with woman such as mentoring, working alone and socialising.  The good news is that men are increasingly reflecting on the perception and implications of their behaviours in the workplace.  But the #metoo message hasn't landed correctly if the "40 percenters" (I'm trademarking that) are withdrawing from interacting with female colleagues.  That sort of insular behaviour is the opposite of what ..read more

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released its stocktake report on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) in the banking sector on Monday.   The report is very timely and provides some useful insight for all FCA-regulated firms, particularly those who are currently developing implementation plans for the extension of SMCR to their businesses from December 2019.  We report here on some of the key highlights. 1.  The FCA doesn't appear keen to provide any further information on the "reasonable steps defence" in relation to senior managers' duty of responsibility.  It points to t ..read more

Most people own a smart phone these days - it is therefore becoming increasingly common and easier for employees to secretly record meetings or discussions in the workplace.  We have seen employers face this issue in the past and it has certainly been a cause of frustration that recordings have been taken covertly by an employee, yet taking action against the employee is not always straightforward. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently considered this issue in Phoenix House Ltd v Stockman and provided some useful guidance including when such behaviour may amount to gross misconduct.  T ..read more

As the storm around NDAs in the employment context rages on and the government launches a consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace, Hannah Disselbeck revisits the debate around "non-disclosure agreements". Read more here ..read more

In this fourth and final blog in our series on the government's consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace, published on 11 July 2019, we focus on the government's proposal to extend time limits for bringing a claim under the Equality Act. Despite the limited scope of the consultation, the government's proposals do not deal only with claims for sexual harassment, but on any claim under the Equality Act, including discrimination and victimisation claims and including claims brought by reference to any protected characteristic. Currently, the time limit for bringing a claim is three mont ..read more

In this third blog in our series on the government's consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace, published on 11 July 2019, we touch on the government's consultation regarding the treatment of volunteers and interns under the Equality Act 2010. The government's view (which is borne out by successive independent reports) is that in reality, the vast majority of "interns" are in fact workers or employees by another label, and are already covered by the Equality Act – and should be paid National Minimum Wage, though that is a topic for another day. The consultation therefore focuses on th ..read more

In this next blog in our series on the government's consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace, published on 11 July 2019, we take a closer look at proposals to reintroduce employer liability for the harassment of employees by third parties. This covers a wide range of scenarios: harassment of a waitress working at an event by the guests of the event, harassment of a cashier by a customer, harassment of an employee by an external consultant or contractor. The list goes on. Historically, the law has imposed liability on employers for third party harassment of their employees on a "three ..read more