The Court of Appeal has confirmed this month that Uber drivers are workers rather than self-employed, in Uber v Aslam. The drivers’ contracts described them as independent contractors. They had to undertake an interview and an induction. They had to perform the work personally. Drivers used their own vehicles, but Uber stipulated appropriate brands and […]
The Gig Economy
The gig economy cases keep on coming. Both the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal have made decisions on this issue recently. In Lange v Addison Lee, the company provided private hire and courier services. Drivers were formally recruited and given training. They had guidelines on how to do the job. They leased […]
Happy New Year for Vegans
It looks like it might be a happy new year for vegans. The employment tribunal will decide in March 2019 whether ethical veganism is protected by the Equality Act 2010 as a ‘philosophical belief’, akin to a religion. Jordi Casamitjana will have to show that his ethical veganism meets the legal test: his belief is […]
Unfair Dismissal and the Form of Misconduct
In Quintiles Commercial v Barongo the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that misconduct does not have to be ‘gross’ for a dismissal without prior warnings to be fair. In this case the Claimant, Mr Barongo, was dismissed for ‘gross misconduct’ after failing to complete two compulsory training courses by the deadline given by the Respondent. […]
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018
The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 has received Royal Assent. Full details will appear in supplemental Regulations. The Government has said it hopes to bring the legislation into force by April 2020. The Act will provide a right to two weeks of time off work for those employees who have lost a child […]
Working time Regulations and Rest Breaks
In Crawford v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd UKEAT/0316/16, the EAT held that an employer is not entitled to add a number of short breaks together to meet the 20 minute rest break requirement under the Working Time Regulations (the Regulations) If a worker’s time at work is longer than 6 hours in a day, the […]