The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) have released a new set of guidelines to assist managers with providing better support to employees with disabilities. The guidance, entitled ‘Recruiting, managing and developing disabled people: a practical guide for managers’, is designed to inspire managers to adopt an active and welcoming stance towards hiring individuals with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions. The guide provides statistics based on DWP data that states out of the estimated 9.5 million working-age indivi ..read more

Despite increasing awareness around fertility issues, when it comes to the workplace there is no specific legal protection for people or partners facing challenges, experiencing heartache, or going through treatment. Below, we have set out how employers can support employees undergoing fertility treatment or facing fertility issues. According to the NHS, around one in seven couples may have difficulty conceiving with many choosing to try fertility treatment such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of successful births over the last decade. In the most r ..read more

From April 2024, the Vento bands of awards for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury will be updated to take account of the RPI measure of inflation. This was confirmed via a joint Presidential Guidance notice issued by The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England & Wales, and Scotland. What are the Vento bands? In successful claims for discrimination, under the Equality Act 2010, an Employment Tribunal (ET) can award damages to employees for injury to feelings for instances such as where an employee has: Been humiliated by their employer; Received degrading t ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld a ruling that an employer failed to make reasonable adjustments by dismissing a disabled employee instead of offering a trial period for an alternative role.  Rentokil Initial UK Ltd v Mr M Miller Background The Claimant, Mr M Miller, was employed in April 2016 by the Respondent, Rentokil Initial UK Ltd, as a field-based Pest Control Technician. In March 2017, the Claimant was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis rendering him unable to continue to work within his role. Following the diagnosis, the Claimant was unable to work at heights ..read more

Ramadan began on Sunday, 10 March, following the sighting of the crescent moon, and will last for 30 days, ending on Tuesday, 9 April. There will then be the celebratory days of Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan when Muslims break their daylight fasting. Islam is the second-largest religion in the UK, with almost four million practising members, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Therefore, employers need to ensure they’re aware of how observing Ramadan may affect their team members, how they can be supported in the workplace, and minimise the chances of opening themse ..read more

The latest annual increases to the compensation limits for Employment Tribunal awards and other statutory rates, such as statutory sick pay and the national minimum wage, have been announced by the Government.  The increases will come into effect from 6th April 2024 and are outlined in The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2024, which has been published to reflect the increase in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) of the last year. The main increases are: The maximum award for unfair dismissal, which is increasing from £105,707 to £115,115; The limit on a week’s pay, which is bein ..read more

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recently issued guidance which has stated that menopause symptoms can be considered a disability and that employers could face a claim for disability discrimination if they don’t make “reasonable adjustments”. The EHRC stated that symptoms could amount to a disability if they have a significant and long-term effect on a woman’s ability to carry out their day-to-day work responsibilities. Employers are legally obligated to make reasonable adjustments for and to not directly or indirectly discriminate against disabled employees u ..read more

2024 will see a flurry of new employment law changes that will have substantial ramifications for business owners, HR managers, and workers. We have outlined these changes below, detailing what impact they will have on employers and employees. New employment law legislation in 2024 1. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, which will come into effect on 6 April 2024, will amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) so that employees who are in “a protected period of pregnancy” or are returni ..read more

The UK Government has issued a consultation paper that includes a proposal to re-introduce fees in Employment Tribunals (ET) and the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The Ministry of Justice has proposed a fee of £55 to bring a claim to the ET or issue an appeal to the EAT. The Minister for Courts and Legal Services, Mike Freer, said: “The Ministry of Justice has carefully considered the 2017 Supreme Court ruling on the previous approach to fees in the employment tribunals and has endeavoured to ensure that the fees proposed in this consultation are proportionate and affordable, in line with ..read more

The Employment Tribunal ruled in the employer’s favour after finding that the employer had no knowledge of a particular effect of the employee’s disability and, whilst the employee was treated unfavourably because of his disability, the method of conducting the interview was a fair and proportionate way to achieve the employer’s legitimate aim of a fair recruitment process. Mr S Glasson v The Insolvency Service Background The Claimant, Mr Glasson, was a successful employee of The Insolvency Service (TIS) and was known for his “high level” performance throughout the duration of his employment ..read more