On 30 June 2021, the Government outlined its main legislative proposals for a new UK subsidy control regime. It introduced its long-awaited Subsidy Control Bill (the Bill) to Parliament, published a number of policy papers and provided a response to the public consultation that ran from 3 February to 31 March this year.
The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) entered into force as a replacement for the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) due to Brexit, to leverage Vietnam-UK trade relations. To implement preferential tariff treatment under the UKVFTA, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued Circular No. 02/2021/TT-BCT that will regulate the origin issues and take effect on 27 June 2021.
A belief that biological sex is immutable is a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled. The case will now return to the employment tribunal to decide whether the claimant was discriminated against because of her belief when her consultancy contract was not renewed.
On 1 July, HM Treasury published a consultation that takes forward three key recommendations from Lord Hill’s UK Listings Review (click here for further information on that Review). It sets out how the Government proposes to: (i) review and potentially replace the prospectus regime that the UK has inherited from the EU; (ii) give the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) new rule making responsibilities that will allow it to incorporate a replacement prospectus regime into its handbook; and (iii) amend the prospectus liability regime so that there are fewer barriers to the inclusion of more forward-looking information in prospectuses.
‘Fire-and-rehire’, the practice in which employers can dismiss employees and engage them on new/different terms (usually where consent is not obtained) has recently been in the spotlight, following reports suggesting that their use has increased during the pandemic.
The Upper Tribunal upheld a First Tier Tribunal decision that a project manager was within IR35 as he would have been an employee if he had been engaged directly. The case (Northern Light Solutions Limited v Revenue and Customs [2021] UKUT 134 (TCC)) relates to the pre-6 April 2021 position according to which it was for the contractor to determine whether he was inside or outside IR35.
The government has confirmed in its response to its 2019 consultation that it intends to establish a new single enforcement body for employment rights. The new body will enforce breaches in relation to national minimum wage, modern slavery (including modern slavery statements), employment agencies, statutory sick pay and holiday pay for vulnerable workers.
In an article published in Employment Law Journal, Monica Kurnatowska and Rachel Farr assess the impact on employers of the EAT’s decision that ‘gender-critical’ beliefs are protected under the Equality Act 2010.
With LIBOR set to be discontinued on a permanent basis, corporate service providers and corporate trustees must transition to alternative rates before the phase-out begins at the end of 2021. Bearing this challenge in mind, we, at Baker McKenzie, needed to streamline the re-papering process for our clients. We needed to create an end-to-end solution that provides the right balance of legal expertise, legal project management and technology.
The ECJ has ruled that the EU fundamental principle of equal pay has direct effect in respect of both equal work and work of equal value claims. The ruling has paved the way for Tesco retail store employees to proceed with claims comparing their work to distribution centre colleagues.