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Annabel Mackay

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Annabel Mackay has extensive experience of advising employers and employees on a range of complex employment issues.
She has been ranked in Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners since 2015.
Chambers & Partners 2024 report that Annabel "draws praise for her work on behalf of financial sector clients and large corporates." An employer client notes that "she navigates her way through complex legislation and case law to give us new perspectives and initiatives."

In brief The Employment Rights Bill (ERB) introduces a new requirement for employers to prevent third party harassment of employees in the course of their employment. Once in force, this requirement will apply to harassment because of any protected characteristic not just sexual harassment. It is an extensive obligation because…

The new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees will come into force on 26 October 2024. Following a consultation during the summer, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published an eight-step guide to preventing sexual harassment at work and made further updates to its technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work

In its “Make Work Pay” manifesto, the Labour government pledged to bring in the “right to switch off” for workers. The government is reportedly considering a Code of Practice on such right, which may operate in a similar way to the Codes of Practice on disciplinary and grievance matters, and fire and rehire, with the potential for uplifts in compensation for specified types of claims where there has been non-compliance. Full details of the proposals are awaited but employers may wish to examine their hybrid and remote working arrangements now in order to ensure that they can react swiftly to future developments.

The recruitment process stands as a critical juncture in shaping the workforce of any organization. As organizations scale, the influx of job applications creates a complex balancing act. In an article, Morven Ross explores the risks to organizations of disability discrimination in the recruitment process and the correct management of AI in this context.

On 16 May 2024, the government launched a consultation concerning TUPE and European Works Councils (EWCs). There are three proposals under consultation: (1) Overturn the concept of split assignment in a TUPE transfer (where an employee’s contract of employment could be split between two transferees). (2) Confirm that TUPE only covers employees, not workers. (3) Repeal the remaining post-Brexit EWC legislation, which will likely see the end of any statutory obligations to maintain an EWC in the UK.

The employment tribunal ruled that a Christian actor was not discriminated against because of religion or belief when she was dismissed from the role of a lesbian character and her agency terminated her contract following a social media storm after an old Facebook post was discovered saying that she believed homosexuality to be a sin.

A dismissal will be automatically unfair if the sole or principal reason for dismissal is that the employee took or sought to take parental leave. In Hilton Foods Solutions v. Wright, the EAT has decided that this protection does not require the employee to have made a formal request. Communications about taking parental leave might reach a stage that could be described as having sought to take the leave. This will be a question of fact for employment tribunals.

An employer did not breach its duty to make reasonable adjustments for an employee with a stammer when it held internal promotion interviews via video conference. The employee’s stammer made him curtail his answers in the interview, which negatively affected his assessment. However, he had not told his employer that his stammer might have this effect and, on the facts of this case, the employer was reasonable in not realizing it.

The Financial Conduct Authority has recently reiterated that its new Consumer Duty represents a significant shift in its expectations of affected firms. Good customer outcomes must be at the heart of firms’ business strategy and objectives. In an article for Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence, Annabel Mackay and Kimberly Everitt provide an overview of the employment law implications of the Consumer Duty and lists next steps firms should take to ensure compliance.