Archives
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Balancing religion in the workplace
Balancing religious and philosophical needs of employees is becoming a challenge for employers, particularly as recent case law suggests that political beliefs may amount to being a philosophical belief. Therefore the pertinent question is - how far do employers have to go to accommodate an employee’s religious or philosophical belief?
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently dealt with this question in the high profile case of Eweida, Chaplin, Ladele and McFarlane.
Background
Ms Eweida’s and Ms Chaplin’s complaints related to restrictions placed by their employers on their wearing of a cross visibly around their necks. Ms Ladele and Mr McFarlane complained about sanctions imposed on them by their employers as a result of their … more
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Shared parental leave and flexible working
The Government is acting on the promise they made last year to commit to working families in the 21st century through the publication of the Children and Families Bill. You may recall that the proposals relating to changes in employment law included shared parental leave, pay and extending the right to request flexible working to all employees – this has now been put in motion. The Bill has been through its first reading and though all is not yet clear, we now have a fair idea of the changes to be implemented.
New statutory rights to shared parental leave and pay
The Bill creates new rights for shared parental leave and statutory shared parental pay. The precise detail of how the shared parental leave and pay scheme will work, including eligibility criteria, will be … more
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Where we are with the employment law reforms
This year the Government have forgotten their policy of only introducing changes in April and October, which has traditionally provided employers the opportunity to catch up. So far, 2013 is expected to be the year that:
- Shortens the consultation period for collective redundancies of more than 100 people from 90 days to 45 days and to include employees with fixed term contracts into the mix. The draft regulations have set the trigger date for the new consultation period is where the proposal to make more than 100 people redundant occurs on or after 6 April 2013.
- Will introduce the new “employee-owner” status employment contracts. It is envisioned that businesses will be able to start using them from April 2013 however no firm date has been announced.
- Introduces … more
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Valid forfeiture of a benefit attained through a compromise agreement (now settlement agreements)
The difficulties of dealing with exiting senior management are the same in all industries. Existing employees, particularly those who have the potential their former employer’s damage, very easily forget their duty of fidelity. Many employers protect their interests by agreeing compromise agreements (from 29 July 2013 compromise agreements have been renamed as settlement agreements). However, does an employee forfeit their agreed financial benefit or payment if they breach their executed compromise agreement?
The High Court recently dealt with this question in the case of Mr Imam- Sadeque v Bluebay Asset Management (Services) Ltd (BlueBay).
Background
The Claimant, Mr Imam-Sadeque, commenced employment with BlueBay, an asset management company, in 2004 and by 201 … more
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