Agency workers have a right to be notified but no right to be considered
Agency Workers Regulations 2010 In Angard Staffing Solutions Ltd and Royal Mail Group Ltd v Kocur and anor [2020], agency workers supplied by Angard to Royal Mail sued Royal Mail because under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR), agency workers are entitled to information about vacancies i...
Wrist slap for Tesco's fire and rehire tactics
Fire and Rehire The pandemic saw the increase of employers using 'fire-and-rehire' nastiness by giving employees dismissal notices and then offering immediate re-employment on lesser terms and conditions. In USDAW & others v Tesco Stores Limited [2020] the High Court gra...
Unfairly dismissed for questioning tips
The Labour Court in in Dublin has found that Julia Marciniak and Lenka Laiermanova were unfairly dismissed by the Ivy restaurant in Dublin and ordered the Ivy to pay almost €10,000 in compensation to two former waitresses after the Labour Court ruled they had been unfairly dismissed from their...
Workers are entitled to full holiday pay with no 2 year limit
Compensation for unpaid holiday In Smith v Pimlico Plumbers, the Court of Appeal said that a worker is entitled to claim compensation for unpaid holiday covering the entire period of his engagement. This included both holiday that he did not take and holiday that he did take but which was unpaid....
Amey Rail Fined £600,000 for Health & Safety Breaches
Health and Safety at Work Act Amey Rail Limited did not ensure lifting operations were properly planned, supervised and carried out safely as they are required to under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act.1974. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) prosecuted them and Amey Rail pleaded guilty to t...
Is fear of catching COVID-19 a protected belief?
Fear of catching COVID-19 and the Equality Act 2010 In X v Y, the Employment Tribunal (ET) said that X’s fear of catching COVID-19, and her belief that she needed to protect herself and her partner from catching it, was not a protected belief for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. Af...
12 months jail sentence for health and safety breaches
Director Sentenced To 12 Months In Prison For Failing To Comply With HSE Enforcement Notices Tahir Karim, a Director of Long Life Spares, a former car salvage company operating from Graddfa Industrial Estate, Caerphilly, entered guilty pleas to four offences that contravened section 33 of the Hea...
Is it fair to dismiss an employee who refuses COVID-19 Vaccination?
Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination In Allette v Scarsdale Grange Nursing Home the Employment Tribunal said that a care assistant who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was fairly dismissed. Scarsdale Grange Nursing Home provides residential care for dementia sufferers. Ms Allete work...
Guidance on percentage uplift for breach of the ACAS Code
Guidance on uplift for breach of the ACAS Code In the case of Sir Benjamin Slade Baronet & Anor v Biggs & Others [2021] , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has given guidance on how to assess the percentage uplift on compensation for failure to comply with the ACAS Code on Discip...
Sickness Self-Certification now 28 days not 7
You can now self-certify sickness for up to 28 days (previously 7 days). You only need to attend a GP for a ‘fit note’ if you have been ill for more than 28 days and have taken sick leave. This includes non-working days, such as weekends and bank holidays. See The Stat...