A worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ annual leave (equivalent to 28 days for those who work five days a week) in each leave year.   Where a worker is prevented from taking statutory holiday due to sickness the worker is entitled to carry over the statutory holiday to the next holiday year.  It has been unclear whether this carry over of leave applied to all the 5.6 weeks’ annual leave or only the first 4 weeks of annual leave (the rules in relation to the first  4 weeks statutory holiday differ in some respects from the rules for the last
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Very significant changes come into effect today (29 Jul) New tribunal rules of procedure and fees to be introduced The new Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure come into force.  Employment tribunal fees have also been introduced. New unfair dismissal compensatory limit The unfair dismissal compensatory award limit will become the lower of the statutory cap (currently £74,200) or one year’s gross pay for dismissals where the effective date is after 29 July. Pre-termination negotiations If an employer makes an offer of a negotiated settlement before a dismissal, this will now be inadmissible in any subsequent unfair dismissal proceedings unless there
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This summer is full of employment law changes. We have summarised some of the key changes below, with an explanation of how these changes may affect employers. From 25 June 2013 Unfair dismissal The qualifying period for unfair dismissal (1 or 2 years depending on whether the employment started before or after 1.4.12) will not apply where the main reason for dismissal is the employee’s political opinions or affiliation. Where employers are considering dismissing individuals with less than 1 or 2 years’ service then if the employee may be able to argue that the dismissal is connected to their political
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With effect from 25 June 2013 where the reason or principal reason for a dismissal “is, or relates to, the employee’s political opinions or affiliation” the employee can bring an unfair dismissal claim without needing to have the required one year or two years’ service which would ordinarily be required for that claim.
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Some important changes to whistleblowing laws have been brought into force today: To be protected in a whistleblowing scenario, a worker must now reasonably believe that their whistleblowing is in the public interest.  Previously workers  might have taken a whistleblowing claim based on, for example, an allegation that related to their own employment terms and conditions. There is no longer a requirement for whistleblowing to be in good faith. However, if an Employment Tribunal considers that a disclosure has been made in bad faith, it may reduce any compensation awarded to the worker by up to 25%. An employee may
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A draft order varying the upper limit on the unfair dismissal compensatory award has been laid before Parliament. It will vary the upper limit to the lower of 52 weeks’ pay or the current limit (£74,200). This will apply where the end of employment is after the day the order is made. The government intends the order to be made in July, although the exact date has not yet been confirmed.
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The Court of Appeal has decided that the announcement of a guaranteed minimum bonus pool at a staff meeting created a contractually binding obligation to pay what was announced. The announcement, delivered by Dresdner Bank’s CEO at a meeting which staff were encouraged to attend, amounted to a variation of the employees’ terms and conditions. The Court confirmed that where any contractual right is established, the employer must honour it even if it is no longer in its best interests to do so, and even if circumstances have changed dramatically since the contract was entered into. Businesses should therefore be
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The government announced in the Queen’s speech that it intends to abolish the power of Employment Tribunals to make a general recommendation to an employer about its practices when an employee succeeds in a discrimination claim against it.
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The following changes have recently been introduced: Statutory Pay Increases SMP is paid for 39 weeks of maternity leave as follows: For the first 6 weeks, SMP is paid at 90% of the employee’s normal weekly salary. For the remaining 33 weeks, SMP is paid at either the lower of 90% of the employee’s normally weekly salary, or the “Prescribed Rate”. From 7 April 2013, the Prescribed Rate has increased from £135.45 to £136.78 per week. The Prescribed Rate for Statutory Paternity Leave, Statutory Adoption Leave and Maternity Allowance has similarly increased to £136.78 per week. From 6 April 2013,
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New rules come into effect on 6 April as follows: the current 90-day minimum period before the first redundancy can take effect (if there are 100 or more redundancies) is halved to 45 days. There is no change to the 30-day minimum period for 20-99 redundancies. the expiry of fixed term contracts will be excluded from the scope of collective redundancy consultation. However, dismissals before the end of a fixed-term will still be covered.
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