Employment Law News

Employee-Owner status: shares for staff instead of employment rights

Probably the most radical reform proposed by the Government is the new ‘employee owner’ status, whereby employees will forfeit major employment rights (like unfair dismissal) in exchange for employees being given shares in their employer worth £2,000 or more. These shares will be sold back to the employer for a reasonable price and up to £50,000 worth of shares will be exempt from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) at the point of sale. This is due to come into force in April 2013.

February 13, 2013 No Comments

Employers can rely on unrelated earlier disciplinary warnings to dismiss an employee for misconduct

In Wincanton v Stone, Mr Stone was employed as a driver for Wincanton. In 2009, Mr Stone received a first written warning for being insubordinate. In 2010, Mr Stone breached Wincanton’s health and safety rules when he pulled out of a loading bay when the light was red. This was not an act of insubordination but carelessness. Wincanton dismissed Mr Stone on the basis that the earlier warning “tipped the balance” in favour of dismissal, even though the two warnings were for very different types of conduct.

February 4, 2013 No Comments

Volunteers have no protection under discrimination law

In X v Citizens Advice Bureau, X signed a volunteer agreement to work four to five hours a week for a Citizens Advice Bureau. The volunteer agreement specifically stated that it was “not an employment contract of employment or legally binding”. The CAB subsequently asked the volunteer to stop working for the organisation. She claimed that this was disability discrimination.

January 20, 2013 No Comments

Controversial remarks on Facebook about gay marriage are not ‘gross misconduct’

In Smith v Trafford Housing Trust, Mr Smith posted a link on his Facebook wall to a BBC news article entitled “Gay church marriages set to get the go-ahead” and commented that it was “an equality too far”. In response, his colleague posted a comment on his wall, “Does this mean you don’t approve?”

January 18, 2013 No Comments

If employees sue two employers and one settles, the tribunal must reduce the award against the other employer to ensure the employee does not “double recover”

In Optimum Group Services Plc v Muir, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that a Tribunal should have deducted a settlement payment received by the claimant from another employer when calculating the award, in accordance with the principle that the same loss cannot be recovered twice.

January 16, 2013 No Comments

Government publishes its response to ‘employee owner’ share scheme

In December 2012, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published its response to a consultation on how to implement the new ‘employee owner’ scheme, whereby employees will forfeit major employment rights in exchange for taking a stake in their business.. This is an unusually fast response from the Government who only announced the scheme at the conservative party conference in October 2012.

January 8, 2013 No Comments

Employee-Owner status: shares for staff instead of employment rights

Employers can rely on unrelated earlier disciplinary warnings to dismiss an employee for misconduct

Volunteers have no protection under discrimination law

Controversial remarks on Facebook about gay marriage are not ‘gross misconduct’

If employees sue two employers and one settles, the tribunal must reduce the award against the other employer to ensure the employee does not “double recover”

Government publishes its response to ‘employee owner’ share scheme

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