The government has published the draft The Equality Act (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2016. The draft Regulations set out the framework for the new gender pay reporting requirements. Under the draft regulations, employers with 250 staff or more will be required to provide the following information on the whole workforce and publish it on […]
Disciplinary action – The importance of the investigation
Employers who discover misconduct in the workplace need to carry out an investigation before taking disciplinary action. In cases of gross misconduct, the investigation is particularly important. Nevertheless, a thorough investigation is important for the principles of natural justice and for general fairness. Critically if an employer gets this stage wrong, like the foundations to […]
Legal highs in the work place
With the rise in popularity of substances which have effects similar to illegal drugs but which are not illegal themselves, employers should consider legal highs when drafting their alcohol and substance policies. This is an emerging area of law as many legal highs are actually illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and […]
Naming the Respondent in the ACAS process
An error in the name on the ACAS EC certificate for the Respondent does not prevent a Tribunal from accepting the claim according to the recent EAT decision in Mist v Derby Community NHS Trust. The Claimant in this case correctly named the Respondent in the ET1 but did so incorrectly in the ACAS EC […]
Are disciplinary sanctions under sickness absense policies subject to the duty to make reasonable adjustments?
Yes, according to the Court of Appeal in the case of Griffiths v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] EWCA Civ 1265 . An absence management policy could place a disabled employee at a substantial disadvantage and therefore, the duty to make reasonable adjustments is engaged. The Court noted that this duty […]
Can employers monitor employees’ personal messages at work?
Yes, according to a recent European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) case concerning an engineer in Romania. However, there are limitations to this decision as set out below. The ECHR considered a case whereas as part of its investigation, the employer in Romania accessed private messages sent by the employee to friends and family relating […]