Employment - August 2007
This month’s edition includes articles on: the extension of
ACAS’s conciliation services to certain types of EAT case; an
important decision of the EAT in an equal pay case dealing with an
earlier finding of discrimination against a Union arising out of
its behaviour towards a group of female members when representing
them; clarification from the Court of Appeal about the ability of
an employer to fairly dismiss an employee for long-term sick
absence – even where the employer caused that absence; and finally,
a summary of the forthcoming changes to statutory annual leave
entitlement.
ACAS is to conciliate in EAT cases
ACAS is extending its conciliation
services to selected cases referred to it by the Employment Appeal
Tribunal (EAT). Paul McFarlane explains
about ACAS and its conciliation services.
GMB v Allen
The latest chapter in the saga that is
equal pay litigation was handed down by the Employment Appeals
Tribunals (EAT) last week in the case of GMB v Allen. Jawaid Rehman explains how, to the relief of trade
union officials up and down the country, the EAT judged that the
GMB had not discriminated against its female members.
Fair absence dismissal following
stress caused by employer
In
McAdie v Royal Bank of
Scotland, the Court of Appeal has clarified that an
employee on long-term sickness absence caused by bullying at work
can still be fairly dismissed, although the employer will be
expected to manage the absence more sympathetically before
resorting to dismissal. Jessica
Baden-Daintree explains the implications of fair absence dismissal
following stress caused by the employer.
It’s a jolly holiday…
From 1 October 2007 the statutory
holiday entitlement will increase from four weeks to 4.8 weeks.From
1 April 2009 this will further increase to 5.6 weeks. As a
result of the changes, the maximum statutory holiday entitlement
will increase to 28 days. Lisa Gillis
highlights the forthcoming key changes to statutory holiday
entitlement and answers some frequently asked questions about the
practical implications.
Legislation pipeline
Weightmans maintains a regularly
updated schedule of forthcoming employment-related legislation. A
copy can be accessed at any time by contacting Paul McFarlane:
paul.mcfarlane@weightmans.com.
This update does not attempt to provide a full analysis of those
matters with which it deals and is provided for general information
purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice and
should not be treated as a substitute for legal advice. Weightmans
LLP accepts no responsibility for any loss that may arise from
reliance on the information in this update. The copyright in this
update is owned by Weightmans.