Financial Times – 28/12/2009 A highly paid London-based German banker, Achim Beck, has successfully brought a claim for age discrimination against his former employer, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, after he was made redundant. An employment tribunal ruled that Mr Beck had been the victim of a “sham” redundancy process with the aim of replacing him with someone younger. Although he had been made redundant along with several members of his derivatives marketing team, [...]

Joint Committee on Human Rights – 15/12/2009 The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has been examining the Process for appointments to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  As part of that process it has been asking why the Commission is paying Neil Kingham, its interim chief executive, £1,000 per day. This follows previous evidence sessions with the Chair of the EHRC, Trevor Phillips OBE, and with former EHRC Commissioners, Professor Kay Hampton, Professor Francesca [...]

BBC – 15/12/2009 British Airways PLC says it is seeking a court injunction to stop the planned strike by cabin staff after the Unite union ignored a 2 p.m. deadline to call off the proposed 12-day strike.  The strike is due to take place over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. BA says it has written to the Unite union outlining “irregularities” in its ballot of workers, which it says makes the vote invalid. Unite issued a press [...]

Veakins v Keir Islington Ltd – conduct must be “oppressive and unacceptable” to amount to “harassment” under 1997 Act Court of Appeal – 02/12/2009 In a claim under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (which will be rare in matters concerning the workplace) the court must focus primarily on the requirement that the conduct complained of be “oppressive and unacceptable” (as against merely “unattractive, unreasonable or regrettable”), albeit that it should also bear in mind the authority [...]

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – 02/12/2009 Following revelations of the blacklisting of construction workers, the government has announced that it will introduce new rules banning the practice of blacklisting workers for their trade union membership or activities. This announcement was made together with the publication of a government response to a consultation on new regulations to prevent blacklisting. The new regulations, if they are implemented, will: make it unlawful for organisations to refuse [...]

Law Society Gazette – 19/11/2009 This article in the Law Society Gazette refers to the BIS July 2009 consultation on Employment Tribunal claims and the Public Interest Disclosure Act”. The article reports the views of the Employment Lawyers Association. The main point is a fear that empowering the employment tribunal service to forward details of claims involving PIDA allegations to the “relevant regulator” if the claimant consents, as proposed, would give whistleblowing claimants ‘improper bargaining power’. The ELA points out that [...]

BIS – 18/11/2009 The new right is set out in new sections 63D to 63J, 47F and 104E introduced into the Employment Rights Act 1996 by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 s.40 (which extends to Scotland – see s.268(2)) The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has published this guidance explaining how the new right to train will work and how it can benefit businesses. From 6 April 2010, employees of companies [...]

Copyright acknowledged: Startups.co.uk There are several circumstances in which you will need to apply to your local authority for planning permission before you can change or alter your business premises. You may want to extend or change your retail, warehouse or office space. You may want to turn part of your home into a more official business location. You may also need to change the commercial classification of your business premises. In all of these [...]

Copyright acnowledge – Home Office A draft Immigration Bill was published by the government on 12th November 2009. As this home office press release explains, under measures included in this bill, “the five current application categories available to migrants will be replaced by one clear concept – ‘permission’ to be in the United Kingdom. With this new approach, migrants will either be granted permission or refused“. A “new, temporary, time-limited, permission will be given for [...]

Hansard HC 4th November 2009, col 1000W – 04/11/2009 Currently the unfair detriment and unfair dismissal parts of the Employment Rights Act 1996 give employees rights in the event of infringement of the Working Time Regulations. These rights are extended to cover merchant seamen, fishermen and cross-border rail staff who are protected by specific sector related regulations (see ERA 1996 ss.45A(5) and 101A(2)). Perhaps oddly these rights are not extended to professional drivers who are protected [...]