Be Aware UK

Pay during shared parental leave: no sex discrimination where pay rates differ

26 May 2019 18 June 2019 / Employment

The Court of Appeal has given its judgment in the combined cases of Hextall v Leicestershire Police and Capita v Ali and another. The Court found that different rates of pay for mothers on maternity leave and fathers on shared parental leave is not unlawful sex discrimination – it is not direct, nor indirect discrimination, nor does it breach the equal pay requirements. The decision reaffirms the purpose of maternity leave as for the protection of the mother’s health during pregnancy and thereafter and also for the protection of the special relationship between mother and child during the period following …

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Mental Health Awareness Week 2019: Workplace Wellbeing

14 May 2019 18 June 2019 / mental health / Employment

Yesterday saw the start of the UK’s 2019 mental health awareness week. Many employers will use this as an opportunity to launch new workplace wellbeing schemes or to remind employees of the support they already provide, and to encourage staff to talk openly about their mental health. But do these initiatives actually make a difference? Recognition of and action on the impact of mental ill health in the workplace has, without doubt, progressed in recent years. However, statistics suggest that stress at work remains a growing problem. According to the TUC, in 2017/18 in the UK 15.4 million working days …

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European Parliament approves law on more transparent and predictable employment for gig and other workers

18 April 2019 18 June 2019 / employment law reforms, EU law, worker status / Employment

European Parliament approves law on more transparent and predictable employment for gig and other workers On 16 April the European Parliament voted to approve the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive, which is aimed at strengthening the rights of workers and improving working conditions by promoting more transparent and predictable employment whilst ensuring labour market adaptability. The Directive applies to workers in casual or short-term employment, on-demand workers, intermittent workers, voucher-based workers, platform workers, paid trainees and apprentices, provided they work 3 hours per week and 12 hours per 4 weeks on average. Genuinely self-employed persons should not fall within …

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HMRC ‘s proposals to reform off-payroll working in the private sector will have significant impact for businesses

22 March 2019 18 June 2019 / off-payroll, personal service company, tax, worker status / Employment

Private sector organisations who engage the service of individuals off-payroll are likely to already be aware of the private sector off-payroll working rules, commonly known as the IR35 regime. The IR35 regime applies where an individual provides their services (directly or indirectly) through a personal service company (a “PSC”) to another person or entity (an “End-User”) in circumstances where, had the individual provided their services directly to the End-User rather than through their PSC, they would have been an employee (or office-holder) of the End-User. Under the current IR35 regime, it is the responsibility of the PSC to determine whether …

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The spotlight on NDAs intensifies as Government publishes proposals for reform

5 March 2019 18 June 2019 / confidentiality, employment contracts, NDAs / Employment

The spotlight on non-disclosure agreements – or confidentiality clauses, as they are commonly referred to – is showing no sign of diminishing. The Government published a consultation paper yesterday, taking forward its agreement in December 2018 to implement one of the recommendations made by the Women and Equalities Committee to better regulate the use of non-disclosure agreements. With a proposal that non-compliance with the reforms will make future confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements void, this development potentially raises the stakes for employers who routinely include confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements entered into on the termination of an employee’s employment. The …

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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 committed to extending the right to receive a payslip to all workers and to require that employers state the hours being paid for on the …

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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 a 6 month period afterwards; asks whether similar protection should be afforded to other groups, for example, those taking shared parental leave or adoption leave; …

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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 territory in which they were licensed to work and was able and willing to accept assignments was, for as long as those conditions were satisfied, …

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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 recommendations The WEC’s report highlighted five key calls-to-action, including; Putting sexual harassment at the top of the agenda by: Introducing a new duty on employers …

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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 there are very few indications of timescales for the changes. NB – SEE UPDATE BELOW. Employers should, however, take note of the key proposals which …

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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 only deal possible’. So far so good. However, despite this positive progress, a significant hurdle still remains. The deal must now be approved by the …

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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, for employers, the key provisions of interest are likely to include the future rights of EU citizens to live and work in the UK (and, …

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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 May 2008 and May 2010. From 1 January 2010 to the end of his traineeship he did not take any annual leave. When his traineeship …

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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 Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched a public consultation on what the Regulations will need to cover on 28 March 2018. The public consultation …

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