Category: EmployLaw

The Spring Statement 2022: At a glance

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has just delivered his long-awaited Spring Statement, with many holding out hopes for a brighter future as the cost of living continues to increase.

What does “Living With Covid” mean for employers?

The Government has now released plans as to how society needs to move forward from the Covid-19 pandemic, including the relaxation of isolation rules and charging for covid testing. But what will it mean for employers?

Covid continues to cause disparity

Just last week, we reported how John Lewis had leveled the playing field, publicly stating the company had no intention of penalising unvaccinated staff who were required to isolate due to being a close contact. Meanwhile,  other companies were stating that they would be paying unvaccinated staff only Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as opposed to their full pay. But it looks as though new Covid disparities  are rising to the surface. In a recent blog we advised that a Manchester Employment Tribunal had held that employees cannot use a fear of catching Covid-19 as a reason not to return to working from the office on grounds that it is a ‘philosophical belief’ protected by the Equality Act 2010. However, we have now learned of a tribunal decision that the dismissal of an employee who refused to return to the office during the pandemic was automatically unfair. The clear message is what will be deemed fair or unfair or within or outside the remit of the law by a tribunal will be fact specific.

High Court Injunction prevents Tesco from “firing and re-hiring”

Firing and re-hiring again  - Tescos

In a judgment published yesterday the High Court granted an injunction to the USDAW trade union acting on behalf of Tesco workers.  This related to Tesco’s plans to dismiss workers at their distribution centres in order to re-hire them or recruit replacements on less expensive contracts.  The contracts of the workers in question contained a retained pay element negotiated by USDAW in 2010 which Tesco had guaranteed at the time as being permanent.  In the circumstances, the High Court agreed with the claimants that an implied term arose in the workers’ contracts preventing Tesco from terminating in order to remove the retained pay element that they had previously guaranteed.

Vaccination status controversy reaches new levels after JLP says it will pay staff regardless

As Plan B restrictions lift in the UK once again, there’s been a few headlines surfacing about how employers are treating unvaccinated staff - and it’s a bit of a legal minefield.