2020 looks to be a busy year for employment law changes.  We’ve created a time-table of major employment law changes you may want to consider to help you with your planning. Case law developments anticipated in 2020 In addition to the list below, we’re expecting outcomes on some important legal cases this year.  Keep your…
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Perhaps the biggest employment law change of 2020 (in terms of you needing to change how you do things) arrives on 6 April.  It has the potential to cause headaches for HR practitioners, as it involves changes to the right to receive a written statement of particulars of employment.  Changes include not just when an…
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Now, I am not trying to be a Scrooge about this – but we need to talk about Secret Santa.  It has now become almost mythically traditional for workplaces to indulge in this ‘secret’ present giving where everyone is forced to give a secret present to another member of staff. We’ve all been there: trying…
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In the last of our series looking at Pregnancy and Maternity in business, Anne-Marie Boyle looks at the tricky issues thrown up where a dismissal situation (including redundancy) arises during or after a period of maternity leave. We know that in life (despite our best efforts), nothing stays the same and this is very much…
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The recent ousting of McDonald’s CEO for having a workplace relationship provides a useful chance to look at the issue of office romances and ask ourselves – what is appropriate for businesses nowadays? The US approach I worked in the City of London in the early noughties.  There was a lot of eye rolling amongst…
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Maternity leave returns – tricky legal issues An employee’s return to work following their maternity leave can be really positive.  Many women are keen to get back to work (and to drink a cup of coffee uninterrupted!).  Their employer may be grateful for their return too – they’re getting that knowledgeable individual back, the team…
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If you found my first blog on the IR35 reforms helpful, let me share with you contenders 4, 5 and 6 in my ‘most irksome’ list. Number 4 most irksome At number 4 is the fact that when assessing the IR35 question for any contractor you have to work out the ‘hypothetical’ contract that could…
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In our second blog on pregnancy and maternity discrimination, I’m looking at the area of effective communication during maternity leave. In the words of Spandau Ballet, ‘communication let me down, and I’m left here.’  We all know the point of good communication with your employees and it is something that we employment lawyers have been banging on…
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Many of you know that Employment Tribunals are on the increase.  You may not be aware though that one of the largest rises in Employment Tribunal claims comes from pregnancy/maternity dismissal and detriment cases. In the period Oct – Dec 2018 these types of claim had risen 56% (on the same quarter in 2017) and…
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What are the 10 most irksome things about the forthcoming IR35 reforms?  When it comes to preparing for the IR35 reforms in the private and charity sectors next April, the prize for the greatest hassle has several contenders.  Allow me to introduce you to 10 of them over this and a few further blogs. I…
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