Be Aware UK – Page 2 – News and views from DLA Piper's Employment team

Deadline approaches for employers to comply with new payslip requirements for employees and workers

12 February 2019 18 June 2019 / pay, payslips, taylor review / Employment

The Government’s achingly slow progress in implementing many of the key recommendations of the Taylor Review means that some of the proposals may be in danger of slipping from many employers’ radars. Indeed, a whole year has passed since the Government published its response to the Taylor Review (which itself was published in July 2017). Employers should be aware that in that response, as part of its aim to increase ‘transparency of entitlement’, the Government …

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Government consults on extending redundancy protection for women and new parents

28 January 2019 18 June 2019 / discrimination, family friendly rights, maternity, redundancy / Employment

The Government has launched a new consultation on extending redundancy protection for women and new parents. It comes off the back of key issues raised in the Women and Equalities Select Committee 2016 report and the recommendations made by the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices. The consultation closes on 5 April 2019. In summary, the consultation: seeks views on extending the current redundancy protection available to women to cover the period of pregnancy and …

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Court of Appeal hands down judgment in Uber employment status appeal

20 December 2018 18 June 2019 / Employment

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in Uber B.V. and ors -v- Aslam and ors, holding by a majority (Underhill LJ dissenting) that the claimant drivers were ‘limb b workers’. The Court of Appeal has, however, taken the unusual step of also granting leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. The appeal focused on the conclusion of the employment tribunal that any driver who had the Uber App switched on, was within the …

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Government’s response to WEC’s report on sexual harassment in the workplace

18 December 2018 18 June 2019 / discrimination, non disclosure agreements, sexual harassment / Employment

Earlier this year, the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) launched an inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace, gathering a range of evidence from oral and written submissions. This culminated in July 2018 in the publication of its report on Sexual harassment in the workplace, which found that the Government, regulators and employers are all failing to tackle the issue. On 18 December 2018, the Committee published the Government’s response to its report. The WEC …

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Worker status: Government publishes its ‘Good Work Plan’ in response to Taylor review consultations

17 December 2018 18 June 2019 / taylor review, worker status / Employment

The Government’s review of modern working practices has been a rather protracted affair but today there has been a significant development with the publication of the Government’s Good Work Plan, which sets out its vision for the future of the UK labour market. However, as before, when making its initial response to the Taylor Review, the detail provided by the Government is a bit thin on the ground. No draft legislation has been published, and …

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Brexit: Deal or no deal? Is the future of the settled status scheme hanging in the balance?

27 November 2018 18 June 2019 / Brexit, immigration / Brexit, Employment

Each day now presents new developments in the Brexit negotiations – and in an update to our article of 20 November 2018, the critical EU Summit has now taken place and the leaders of the EU27 Member States have now agreed the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and the future relationship. This brings to an end the negotiations which began some 20 months ago. The terms have been declared the, ‘best and …

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Draft withdrawal agreement is agreed (for now) – but what next for citizens’ rights?

20 November 2018 18 June 2019 / Brexit, immigration / Employment

On 14 November 2018, after many months of negotiations, the UK Government and the EU Commission finally announced that a draft withdrawal agreement (WA) on the legal terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU has been agreed, and at the same time they issued a ‘Political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the UK and the EU’ . The WA is a lengthy document (running to nearly 600 pages) but, …

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ECJ rules that a worker cannot automatically lose his acquired rights to paid annual leave because he did not apply for leave

6 November 2018 18 June 2019 / holiday, holiday pay / Employment

The ECJ has handed down judgment on 6 November 2018 in Kreuziger v Land-Berlin and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, a case concerning the circumstances in which the right to compensation in lieu of annual leave on termination of employment may be lost. The ECJ concluded that a worker cannot automatically lose his acquired right to paid annual leave because he did not apply for leave. Mr Kreuzinger was a legal trainee with the Land of Berlin, Germany between …

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Government response to consultation on parental bereavement leave and pay regulations

2 November 2018 18 June 2019 / consultation, employee pay and benefits, family friendly rights / Employment

The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill received Royal Assent on 13 September 2018. The Act will come into force in April 2020 and will create a statutory right to time off work for employed parents, with pay where eligibility requirements are met, following the loss of a child. The Act will be supported by Regulations which will implement the key details of the Government’s policy on parental bereavement leave and pay. The Department for …

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UK Budget 2018: Employment

30 October 2018 18 June 2019 / Employment, Tax

The Chancellor has delivered the 2018 UK Budget. Whilst the number of employment tax related announcements were limited there were some significant changes proposed, most notably in relation to off-payroll working arrangements in the private sector. Set out below is a summary of the key announcements. Off-Payroll Working in the Private Sector As widely anticipated following its consultation earlier this year, the Government has announced that it will be reforming the off-payroll working rules …

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Government consultation on mandatory ethnicity pay reporting

11 October 2018 18 June 2019 / consultation, ethnicity pay reporting / Employment

A consultation has been launched asking employers to contribute their views on implementing mandatory ethnicity pay reporting. It sets out options and asks questions on what ethnicity pay information should be reported by employers to allow for meaningful action, who should be expected to report, and the next steps to be taken. In previous discussions, the Government stated that it preferred voluntary, business led ethnicity reporting, but given the small number of employers reporting and …

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Supreme Court rules that it was not unlawful discrimination for a bakery to refuse to supply a cake supportive of gay marriage.

11 October 2018 18 June 2019 / discrimination, sexual orientation / Employment

In an important case which has highlighted the difficulties which can arise when balancing the rights of individuals with different protected characteristics, the Supreme Court has held in Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and ors, that it is not unlawful discrimination, either on grounds of sexual orientation or political opinion, for a bakery to refuse to supply a cake iced with the message ‘Support Gay Marriage’. The bakery owners held religious beliefs that gay …

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Supreme Court decides “self-employed” plumber has worker status

13 June 2018 18 June 2019 / employment status / Employment, Uncategorized

Employment status remains one of the hottest topics in employment law this year. The Supreme Court has added to the debate today, handing down judgment in Pimlico Plumbers Ltd v Smith. The Supreme Court unanimously held that a plumber who was engaged as a “self-employed operative” should in fact have been treated as a “worker” for employment rights purposes. Facts Smith worked as a plumber for Pimlico Plumbers Limited (Pimlico) for around 6 years. He …

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Disparate pay for maternity and shared parental leave may be indirect discrimination

3 May 2018 18 June 2019 / discrimination, family friendly rights / Employment

Following the EAT’s recent ruling, in Capita Customer Management Limited v Ali, that a father who wished to take shared parental leave was not directly discriminated against in not being entitled to the higher maternity pay rate which the employer paid to employees taking maternity leave, the EAT has handed down judgment in Hextall v Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police. The appeal in this case related to indirect discrimination, and provides a useful contrast to …

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