The government has updated its guidance on calculating the national minimum wage for sleep-in workers following a recent Supreme Court decision.

The UK Supreme Court has confirmed that Asda retail employees (who are nearly all women) can continue their claim for equal pay as compared to Asda’s distribution centre employees (who are nearly all men). The fact that they worked exclusively at different sites did not prevent the comparison. The decision removes one potential hurdle for claimants in equal pay litigation.

In brief In two separate appeals concerning the same individual, the Court of Appeal has held that a Christian magistrate was not victimised when he was removed from office after disapproving of same-sex adoptions in the press.  The magistrate, who was also a non-executive director of an NHS trust, was…

A number of employment law changes are coming into force on 6 April 2021 that UK employers should make note of. 

The EU Commission has proposed a directive that would reinforce the entitlement to equal pay for men and women for the same work, or work of equal value, including by giving employees the right to comparative pay information and by requiring gender pay gap reporting for employers with 250+ employees, amongst other measures. Some EU member states already have aspects of these rules, while others do not, meaning that the rules could be a significant additional compliance burden for some organisations. The rules, if adopted, would be unlikely to come into force before late 2024.

In R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the High Court upheld a claim brought by the IWGB union that the UK had failed to properly implement Articles 8(4) and (5) of the EU Health and Safety Framework Directive (89/391/EC) by limiting protection from detriment on health and safety grounds under section 44 of the Employment Rights Act (ERA) to employees. A copy of our update on that case can be found here

In brief In a recent article for Compliance & Risk Journal, we explore the issues involved with investigating criminal conduct by employees. We also suggest ways of addressing those concerns, recognising that the employer is often involved in a delicate balancing act involving juggling different types of related risk. Key…

The government has announced that due to the continuing impact of the pandemic, the gender pay gap reporting deadline for the 2020/21 reporting period will be extended by six months to 5 October 2021 for qualifying employers in the private sector. Employers are, however, encouraged to report their figures before the deadline. 

The Supreme Court has upheld previous judgments that Uber drivers are workers, not self-employed. In doing so, it has held that the terms of a written contract should not be treated as the starting point in determining worker status. Courts and tribunals should instead look at all the circumstances of the case, and reach their own conclusion on whether an individual is a worker.

In a case in which it was held that an employee was unfairly dismissed for setting up a camera to monitor anyone who entered his private office, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has also provided useful guidance on the approach employers should take to investigating and hearing connected disciplinary hearings against more than one employee.