Latest Legal Updates from Kervin & Barnes

ACAS has produced useful guidance on certain HR issues flowing from the Olympics this summer.  The guidance can be found here.

Spaceright Europe Limited v (1) Mr Baillavoine (2) Sec. of State for Business, Innovation & Skills

Where a dismissal is for a reason connected with a Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) transfer it will be automatically unfair unless it can be shown to be for an Economic, Technical or Organisational (“ETO”) reason that entails changes in the workforce.  When a company acquires the business of another under TUPE ­ e.g. where the transferor has gone in to administration ­ liability for unfair dismissal passes to the transferee/new business owner.

In the last week the government has announced a huge number of changes and potential changes to employment law.  These plans come in addition to other major proposals recently announced by the coalition government.

The Government has put forward a proposal for employers to be able to hold ‘protected conversations’ with employees and vice versa. In the words of David Cameron the impetus for this is so that “ a boss and an employee feel able to sit down together and have a frank conversation ”. However, we should query what this would mean for current employment protections especially given that the proposal is for the ‘protected conversations’ to be kept private and off-the-record, so that they cannot be brought before a Tribunal or Court.

Fraser v Southwest London St George’s Mental Health Trust 2011

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that an employee on long-term sick leave must give notice of their intention to take statutory sick leave during the leave year in question in order to be paid for holiday pay. ...

General Mills (Berwick) Limited v Glowacki

In this case, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) have opened up the possibilities for employers to justify disparate responses to disciplinary offences.

Mr Glowacki, an electrician, was summarily dismissed for gross breach of health and safety procedures after attempting to repair machinery (a “palletiser”) by disabling certain of its sensors and climbing inside it.  The palletiser had warnings attached to it but these were ignored by Glowacki. ...

Revised government proposals for the reform of public sector pensions would, according to David Cameron, continue to provide ‘far, far, better pensions than people in the private sector’.  The revised proposals provide: ...