Insights & News

Current gender pay gap reporting requirements unlikely to ‘empower’ women

Press

08 March 2018

Michael Burd has commented in an article for Lexis Nexis on PwC's revelation that the UK has been slower in addressing its gender pay gap compared to other developed nations, with Iceland, Sweden and Norway remaining as the top three performing OECD countries.

Bethan Carney contributes to an article in Legally India: Rights of Persons with Disabilities in India and Other Jurisdictions

Press

28 February 2018

Bethan Carney contributes to an article in Legally India, with others from member firms of lus Laboris, outlining the laws in their respective countries concerning disabled rights.

Ask About… Retail, Fashion and Hospitality

27 February 2018

Many of our clients in the retail, fashion and hospitality sector face similar HR issues. Each month one of the members of our team will identify an issue, ask how you would deal with it and provide our advice. This month we asked Tom...

Lewis Silkin’s Head of rockhopper, Laura Farnsworth, named in the 2018 Timewise Power 50 part-time worker awards

Press Release

26 February 2018

Laura Farnsworth has been named in the 2018 Timewise Power 50 awards, a roll-call of the UK’s top flexible and part-time workers who are delivering in senior roles with non-traditional working patterns.

Calling time on workplace sexual harassment?

23 February 2018

A full inquiry into workplace sexual harassment has been announced by the Women and Equalities Committee. The aim of this Government inquiry is to uncover the true scale of the problem and consider what action employers and the Government can take to address it.

‘Living in the dark ages’ - pregnancy and maternity discrimination at interview

21 February 2018

Fresh out of my first year at university and applying for a summer job at a pub, I was slightly taken aback when the interviewer asked whether I had children, in a tone that implied “no” was the right answer… Back then, with no children, I simply answered the question - but it made me wonder.

James Davies comments for Lexis Nexis: Opportunity fund is ‘obvious answer’ to UK employment issues

Press

19 February 2018

James Davies has commented in an article for Lexis Nexis which discusses the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA) proposal of a £10,000 universal basic opportunity fund, subsidised by government savings, to be given to all citizens under 55.

Update on the new tax rules for payments in lieu of notice

16 February 2018

New tax rules will mean that income tax and national insurance contributions (“NICs”) must be paid on all payments in lieu of notice (“PILONs”) with effect from 6 April 2018.

Karen Baxter writes for Accountancy Age: Mind the gap: what accountancy firms should be doing ahead of the new gender pay gap reporting rules

Press

16 February 2018

With less than two months to go until the deadline for filing gender pay gap reports, thousands of employers have not yet provided their figures. Karen Baxter asks, is your firm ready?

When to pay interns?

09 February 2018

Media outlets have reported that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has initiated a crackdown on unpaid internships, including sending letters warning that “workers” must be paid the national minimum wage and setting up teams to tackle the problem.

The Government’s response to the Taylor review – a damp squib?

08 February 2018

The Government has published its Good Work Plan in response to Matthew Taylor’s review of modern working practices. While the response sets out the Government’s intention to take forward nearly all of the review’s recommendations, there are very few specific proposals and much of the detail will be the subject of further consultation.

Further clarity on relevance of TUPE following a share sale

31 January 2018

How relevant is TUPE in the context of a share sale? A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) provides a reminder that TUPE can easily come into play when a buyer is considering what to do with its newly acquired subsidiary. In this case, the buyer’s actions led to an unexpected TUPE transfer and a £3.5 million bill.

When does service provision change amount to transfer of an economic entity?

31 January 2018

The European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) was recently required to consider whether the award of a service contract to a replacement contractor in Portugal amounted to the transfer of an economic entity under the EU Acquired Rights Directive (“ARD”). Portugal has no equivalent legislation to the UK’s service provision change (“SPC”) rules

TUPE and offshoring

30 January 2018

In a recent case, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) was asked to consider the application of TUPE in the context of an offshoring of services and whether a transferring employee was entitled to protection of his salary terms if he relocated to the new place of operations in the transferee’s home jurisdiction.

Advocate General suggests no transfer on change of music school contractor

26 January 2018

An Advocate General (“AG”) of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has considered whether a transfer of an undertaking occurred where a contract to operate a Spanish music school was terminated and another contractor resumed the service five months later. Under the EU Acquired Rights Directive (“ARD”), a transfer of an undertaking occurs where there is a transfer of an economic entity which retains its identity. An economic entity consists of an organised grouping of resources (i.e. persons and assets), organised with a view to carrying on economic activity.

Equal pay, TUPE and insolvency

24 January 2018

The issue for the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) in a recent case was what happens to historic equal pay liabilities when claimant employees transfer under TUPE on to a new employer in the context of the transferor employer’s insolvency.

Evidence of pre-termination negotiations will be admissible if the EDT is in dispute

15 January 2018

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has decided that if the effective date of termination (“EDT”) is in dispute in an unfair dismissal case, a tribunal can hear evidence of pre-termination negotiations if that evidence is relevant to determining the issue.

James Davies comments for The Guardian: Copyright, defamation, employment: how tech is disrupting every corner of the law

Press

10 January 2018

James Davies comments in an article for The Guardian, discussing how the law needs to be at the forefront of change in an ever evolving digitised world.

Employment Appeal Tribunal confirms that an employer’s attempt to bypass collective bargaining was unlawful

10 January 2018

A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has confirmed that offers made directly by an employer to its employees risk amounting to unlawful attempts to bypass collective bargaining contrary to s145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. This was a costly exercise for the employer as they were ordered to pay penalties of more than £400,000.

The year in employment law

08 January 2018

The UK’s political landscape continues to be dominated by the shock 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union. Following a surprise General Election in June 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May unexpectedly lost her parliamentary majority amid deep divisions about how the UK should “Brexit”. Against that backdrop, the Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU began in 2017 and will continue into 2018. This has meant that, as with many other areas, employment policy reform has taken something of a backseat. Nevertheless, employment law continues to change at pace.