UK sanctions On 18 February 2021, the UK announced sanctions against Myanmar military generals for serious human rights violations, which come into force immediately. The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has announced there are 3 individuals subject to immediate asset freezes and travel bans for serious human rights violations by the military and…
Episode 9: Financial Institutions in Post-COVID Africa This episode puts the spotlight on Africa, with a focus on…
Companies are facing critical business challenges in regard to their most important asset – their people. While workforce…
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.Â
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.
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.
Following the designations announced 18 February (see our recent post), the UK has designated 5 further individuals under the…
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.