In an article for PLC Magazine, Monica Kurnatowska explores recent case law around conflicts of belief in the workplace and how employers can approach these situations in practice.

Welcome to this edition of the “UK: Working with Unions” bulletin designed to keep you updated with key cases and legal developments affecting trade unions and employee representative bodies. This bulletin includes two decisions of the Court of Appeal: (i) on whether the Central Arbitration Committee has jurisdiction to hear complaints post Brexit where the European Works Council’s central management is situated in the UK, and (ii) on whether collective redundancies need a common rationale to constitute a transnational matter requiring consultation with the EWC. This bulletin also covers the successful judicial review challenge against regulations introduced in July 2022 to allow employment businesses to supply workers to cover the duties of those taking part in industrial action, and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which has recently received Royal Assent following much discussion and commentary.

In 2019, the government consulted on various measures to support families. It has now responded to chapter one of that consultation – Parental leave and pay: Supporting parents and achieving equality – and announced changes to the statutory paternity leave regime to give fathers and partners more choice and flexibility around how and when they take their entitlement.

In this fifth and final installment of ID&E IMPACT, our Labor and Employment team in the US and UK chat about what’s fueling the trending surge in pay equity audits, the risks and rewards, what organizations should keep top of mind in the pay equity review process, and what employers can expect as a result of the EU Pay Transparency Directive reporting requirement.

This bulletin covers the period of October 2022 to March 2023 and includes a decision of the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) on the limitation period for bringing a Regulation 20 claim under the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 1999 and two interesting Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions considering: (i) whether the CAC has jurisdiction to hear complaints post Brexit where central management is situated in the UK, and (ii) whether the duty to inform and consult arises where collective redundancies are happening in multiple European Economic Area states but there is no common rationale for the redundancies.

Restructuring is commonly used by employers to weather the economic storm. For a dismissal to be fair, it needs to be for a fair reason (which includes redundancy) and follow a fair process. However, there are additional considerations that an employer should take into account where disabled employees are affected, which, if breached, could result in financial and reputational high value claims against the employer.

Ethnicity pay gap reporting in the UK remains voluntary. For organizations that choose to report this data, the government has now published guidance on how to do so, recommending that they mirror the rules on gender pay gap reporting where possible. The big difference is that ethnicity pay gap reporting involves multiple categories.

On 17 March 2023, the government published an update on its progress in delivering its Inclusive Britain action plan that it published in March 2022. As part of that update, the government has published guidance for employers on how to take positive action to help people with protected characteristics overcome certain barriers and improve representation in their workforce without falling foul of the unlawful discrimination rules.

The European Parliament has now formally adopted the Pay Transparency Directive having reached political agreement on its provisions with the Council of the EU at the end of 2022. Its provisions are likely to enter into force in most EU member states in 2026. The measures in the Directive are significant and touch on many aspects of the employment lifecycle.

In an article written to coincide with International Women’s Day 2023, Baker McKenzie’s Monica Kurnatowska looks at law firm diversity and the importance of an evidence-based approach to inclusion and diversity.