Insights & News
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The future world of work: Lewis Silkin’s perspectives on regulating the work relationship
25 May 2017Profound underlying changes in technology and demography are transforming work.
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Election manifestos – what are the main political parties pledging on employment issues?
25 May 2017Employment issues have emerged as a major election battleground, reflecting the aspirations of the Conservatives and Labour - and perhaps to a lesser extent the Liberal Democrats – to be recognised as the ‘workers’ party’. Theresa May has rather boldly claimed to be pledging “the greatest expansion in workers’ rights by any Conservative government in history”.
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How to divorce the EU, in three uneasy steps
05 May 2017The European Council published its official guidelines for Brexit negotiations on 29 April 2017. Lewis Silkin reported on EU Council President Donald Tusk’s circulation of negotiation guidelines to EU leaders at the end of March 2017, and the newly published guidelines are consistent with the earlier version.
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Supreme Court clarifies indirect discrimination test
11 April 2017The Supreme Court has given a clear explanation of how the test for indirect discrimination works, looking in particular at whether it is necessary to know why a group is disadvantaged by an employer’s policy.
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Greater clarity on data subject access requests
30 March 2017A recent Court of Appeal decision has given clarity to data controllers in terms of the grounds on which they may refuse a data subject access request (“DSAR”), although the position is not always a helpful one.
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When does notice to terminate an employment contract take effect?
30 March 2017The Court of Appeal has ruled that, in the absence of an express contractual term, written notice to terminate a contract of employment is only effective when it is received personally by the employee.
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Gender pay gap reporting – D-Day looms…
28 March 2017It’s the employment law change that has generated more interest than any other for many years. Next Wednesday – 5 April 2017 – is the first ever “snapshot date” for the new gender pay gap reporting regime. For several thousand employers, it’s the day for which they will have to pull the payroll data from which their first ever public gender pay gap report will need to be compiled.
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Second cycle courier found to be a ‘worker’
28 March 2017Another day, another case on the gig economy… An Employment Tribunal has found that a cycle courier was a “worker”, rather than an independent contractor, and therefore entitled to statutory holiday pay.
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New guidance on long-term sickness dismissals
23 March 2017The Court of Appeal has given some useful new guidance on the vexed question of when an employer can safely dismiss an employee who is on long-term sickness absence – although not all of the judges agreed with the result.
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Dressing to impress - discriminatory appearance codes
17 March 2017Laura Farnsworth and Emma Langhorn have written an article for HR review on discriminatory appearance codes in the workplace.
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The risk for employers in bypassing collective bargaining
16 March 2017Where an employer has recognised a trade union for collective bargaining purposes, can it still put an offer directly to its employees? This was the thorny issue for consideration in a recent Employment Tribunal decision.
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When is a ban on headscarves at work discriminatory?
16 March 2017The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given its first ruling on the right to wear an Islamic headscarf at work, in two separate cases which both involved the dismissal of a Muslim employee for refusing to remove her headscarf in breach of the employer’s dress code.
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Ignorance isn't bliss... especially with illegal working
16 March 2017If you’re considering restructuring the service company which employs most of your staff, and that company holds your sponsorship licence, you may need to apply for a new sponsor licence and transfer your sponsored migrants accordingly.
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Test for ‘old-style’ transfer of economic entity requires multifactorial approach
08 March 2017The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has ruled that an employment tribunal, in finding that the termination of a franchise agreement gave rise to a relevant transfer under TUPE, made the mistake of focusing on one particular factor and failing to adopt a multifactorial approach assessing all the relevant circumstances.
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Confirmation that collectively agreed terms are ‘static’ for transferring employees
08 March 2017In two joined cases referred to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) by the German Federal Labour Court, an Advocate General (“AG”) has handed down an advisory opinion on the effect of a TUPE transfer on employment terms governed by a collective agreement.
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Supreme Court ends British Gas challenge to holiday pay ruling
02 March 2017The Supreme Court has refused permission for British Gas to appeal against an important ruling that the calculation of holiday pay should include results-based commission.
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Activities fundamentally the same despite alterations to location and scope of service
01 March 2017The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has upheld an employment judge’s decision that a service to provide accommodation-based support services for homeless people had remained fundamentally the same before and after a TUPE service provision change (“SPC”), despite alterations to the location and scope of the service.
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Continuous service for notice pay preserved on transfer
28 February 2017An Advocate General (“AG”) of the European Court of Justice has handed down an advisory opinion on an interesting TUPE issue concerning continuous service, arising in a case referred by the Swedish Labour Court
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Lewis Silkin speaking at Law Society Brexit seminar
27 February 2017Karen Baxter, head of Lewis Silkin’s Professional Services sector group, will be speaking at The Law Society’s event on the implications of Brexit for in-house lawyers on 28 March in relation to employment law.
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“(Section 55) Shades of Gray” - using the Data Protection Act to prevent employees misusing or taking data
27 February 2017A recent case has highlighted a potentially helpful mechanism in the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) for employers to use if they are concerned about employees taking data when they leave.