Summary:  In a redundancy situation, must an employee specifically raise ‘bumping’ before an employer needs to consider it? No, held the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Mirab v Mentor Graphics (UK) Ltd, available here. Background:  Bumping occurs when an employee whose role is redundant is redeployed into another role, and the displaced occupier of that…
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Summary:  If an employee’s long term sickness absence shows lack of need for the role and the employer make that role redundant, does this amount to disability discrimination? No, says the EAT in Charlesworth –v- Dransfields Engineering Services Ltd available here.   Facts:  Mr Charlesworth, the employee, managed one of four branches of the employer’s…
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Summary: Can a contractual mobility clause enable an employer to avoid dismissing employees for redundancy? Yes, but only if the terms of the mobility clause and the manner in which the employer operates the clause are reasonable. The EAT’s decision in Kellogg Brown & Root (UK) Ltd v Fitton, available here, is a useful illustration…
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Summary: Can a redundancy consultation which is highly “insensitive and perfunctory” be reasonable overall and enable a fair dismissal? No, says the EAT in Thomas v BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory and Property Management UK Ltd available here. Facts: The employee, Mr Thomas, was first employed by the employer, BNP Paribas, in 1972. In 2004…
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The key announcements for employers from Chancellor George Osborne’s budget are: Termination payments over £30,000:  compulsory employers national insurance contributions (NICs) will be introduced from April 2018 on such payments. These payments are already subject to income tax.  However the additional payment of employers national insurance is expected to cost employers almost £500m a year…
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Santa Claus has come to the end of another round of present distributing. His task is becoming harder because of the number of log burners replacing fireplaces so he is in a bad mood. This is compounded by the fact he is staring at a plate of lettuce and a glass of tap water as…
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What do we already know? We updated you in our May 2015 Newsletter Case update (1): Collective consultation – big decision time on the Woolworths case (USDAW and another v WW Realisation 1 Ltd (in liquidation) and others) and that the CJEU had confirmed that collective consultation is not triggered whenever planned redundancies, or changes…
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Summary: Does “redundancy” for the purpose of EU collective consultation laws include resignations in response to the employer making significant detrimental changes to the employee’s employment contract? Yes, this is ‘indirect redundancy’ says the CJEU in Pujante Rivera v Gestora Clubs Dir SL and another available here. Facts: Between 16 and 26 September 2013, Gestora…
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What do we already know? It is a legal requirement (under section 194 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A)) that employers should notify the Secretary of State in collective redundancy situations. This involves the submission of a standard form, HR1. When exactly the form needs to be submitted varies according…
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Following the above CJEU decision in the “Woolworths” case, that Court has also considered two further decisions relating to collective consultation in the context of redundancy. 1. Lyttle v Bluebird available here. Summary: Is a single retail store capable of being an “establishment” for collective redundancy consultation purposes? Yes, held the CJEU. This decision was…
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