The Employment Tribunal has recently held that a claimant’s belief in a fear of catching COVID-19 and a need to protect herself and others does not amount to a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.
The Claimant argued that her decision not to return to the workplace in July 2020 was because she had
As everyone is aware, there has been and continues to be a line of “Gig economy” cases where the question is whether an individual is engaged as a worker or on a self-employed basis. One such line of cases has related to courier firms, including CitySprint. In 2017, CitySprint lost a claim brought by one
In Phoenix House Ltd v Stockman, the EAT were asked to determine whether Mrs Stockman’s behaviour in covertly recording a meeting with HR amounted to misconduct and, if so, whether the compensation awarded by the ET should be reduced as a result.
In May 2013, Mrs Stockman, a financial accountant, covertly recorded a meeting
The Supreme Court has today released its decision in the whistleblowing case of Royal Mail Group v Jhuti. The case concerns the unfair dismissal protection for whistleblowers, which provides that a dismissal will be unfair if the reason for it (or the main reason) is that the employee has made a whistleblowing disclosure. The question
As you may be aware, since February 2017, all Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal judgments have been published on an online register on the gov.uk website. A recent case in the Court of Appeal has confirmed that, other than in cases of national security, the online register will always maintain a copy of any
Guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) conversion offers the opportunity for defined benefit schemes to simplify their benefits, potentially saving costs and making schemes more attractive to be bought out with an insurer.
Age-old question
One of the great unanswered questions of pensions law has finally being answered. In October last year, the High Court in the Lloyds Bank case determined that pension schemes have to equalise for the effect of GMPs. As part of the judgment, the Court confirmed the effectiveness of the GMP conversion legislation issued by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
Also, in a follow-up judgment, the Court confirmed that GMP conversion, known as the “D2 method”, can be used as a route to achieve equalisation. This effectively allows a scheme to pay the higher of two amounts, based on the value of the member’s GMP and an opposite sex comparator’s GMP, rather than run on dual records for service between May 1990 and April 1997.
Continue Reading GMP conversion – an opportunity to simplify benefits
On Friday (24 May) the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in the cases of Capita v Ali and Hextall v Chief Constable of Leicestershire. In both cases, male employees claimed sex discrimination on the basis that their employer’s shared parental leave (SPL) policies provided the statutory rate of SPL pay to employees taking
In the wake of #MeToo and the associated shift in the way allegations of sexual harassment are treated by employers, making the decision to suspend an employee can have far-reaching repercussions for employers and employees alike.
Importantly, in 2007, the Court of Appeal, in Mezey v South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS
Despite Brexit dominating the news, there are a number of employment law issues for employers to be aware of in 2019. Below are five of the key areas to keep in mind as we head into the new year.
Executive pay reporting
For financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2019, UK quoted companies