The epidemiologic situation has led the Czech Government to order a lockdown for three weeks, from 1 to 21 March 2021. Below is a summary of measures that have an impact on employment relationships.
In a recent action brought before the Singapore High Court, the summary dismissal of Wong Sung Boon by Fuji Xerox Singapore Pte Ltd (“FXS”) was found to be without basis and unlawful, and FXS was ordered to pay damages of SGD 1.4 million. In assessing the quantum of damages, the High Court re-affirmed the minimum obligation rule. This case illustrates the importance of ensuring that summary dismissals are carried out in accordance with the law and the decision to summarily dismiss an employee must be taken with due care.
The Czech government has implemented obligatory testing of employees. Please find the details below.
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.
COVID-19 restrictions to international travel that have been enacted since the beginning of the pandemic require individuals traveling to Italy from some foreign countries to observe a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
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.
The EAT has held that an employer could not rely on the defence under the Equality Act that it had taken all reasonable steps to prevent harassment, as its diversity training had become “stale”. The EAT confirmed that when looking at whether the step relied on by the employer, here diversity training, was reasonable, “it is not sufficient merely to ask whether there had been training, consideration has to be given to the nature of the training and the extent to which it was likely to be effective.”
The EAT has given some further guidance on when a disclosure can reasonably be viewed as made in the public interest for the purposes of qualifying for whistleblower protection. In this case, an allegation that a solicitors firm had overcharged a single client was capable of being in the public interest.
The UK 2021 Budget was published yesterday, targeted at driving economic recovery as the UK begins to edge out of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopen its economy. Key to the Chancellor’s stated agenda is seeking to promote business investment and support entrepreneurial growth, whilst creating and protecting jobs and livelihoods – which the Chancellor maintains is at the forefront of his Budget mandate. We have summarized the key employment tax highlights of the 2021 Budget.
On 26 and 27 February 2021, Law No. 1214-IX of Ukraine, which provides an exhaustive list of the types of monetary income for which compensation is paid for delays in payment (“Law No. 1214”), and Law No. 1213-IX of Ukraine, which provides for the detailed application of distance and home work (“Law No. 1213”), came into effect.