Employment

The current procedures are to be abolished from 6 April 2009 and replaced with a new ACAS Code of Practice.

Agency workers will now be entitled to equal treatment compared to that of permanent employees and may now receive statutory sick pay from day one of their employment.

The compensation limits in the tribunal are set to increase from 1 February 2009.

The Information Commissioner's Office has ruled that the identity of all respondents to employment tribunal claims must be disclosed.

We set out the new rates for statutory sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption pay effective from 6 April 2009.

Employers must take note that childcare vouchers must still be paid to employees during both ordinary maternity leave and additional maternity leave.

The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by O2, in the case of Dickens v O2, holding it liable to pay damages of over £100,000 for personal injury when an employee suffered from workplace stress.

The High Court in Rolls Royce Plc v Unite the Union had to decide whether a length of service criterion used in a redundancy selection was lawful under the Regulations dealing with age discrimination.

The Court of Appeal held in English v Thomas Sanderson Blinds Ltd that homophobic banter could amount to unlawful harassment on grounds of sexual orientation even when the employee concerned is not gay or perceived as being gay.

The EAT overruled the Employment Tribunal's decision in Autoclenz v Belcher and others that car valeters were employees. They held that express contractual terms will be binding unless they were intended by the parties to be a sham.

We examine the case of SG&R Valuation Service Co LLC v Boudrais and others where employees had been put on garden leave, even though there was no express garden leave clause in their contract. Employees have an implied right to work but does their behaviour forfeit this right?

We look at Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families v Fletcher where the EAT upheld a tribunal decision that a teacher had automatically become a permanent employee under a series of fixed-term contracts and there was no objective justification entitling the employer to continue use of fixed-term contracts.

We examine the case of UBS Wealth Management (UK) Ltd v Vestra Wealth LLP where the High Court decided that springboard injunctive relief will be available against former employees to prevent any future or further serious economic loss to a previous employer.

The High Court in Tullet Prebon Group Limited v Ghaleb El-Hajjali looks at circumstances where a "no show" clause in an employment contract can guarantee the employer compensation when the employee fails to take up employment which he had previously accepted.

In Eweida v British Airways plc the EAT upheld the tribunal's decision and ruled that preventing an employee from wearing a Christian cross outside her clothing was not discrimination under the Regulations dealing with religion or belief.

The Attorney General gives his opinion in the "Heyday Challenge" on whether the default retirement provisions allowing employers to compulsorily retire employees at age 65 under the Age Discrimination Regulations is incompatible with the Equal Treatment Framework Directive.

Consultation regarding prevention of tips, gratuities and service charges counting towards the national minimum wage.

Office for Disabiltiy consultation paper on potential changes to the definition of disability discrimination.

The extension of flexible work rights is to be implemented as planned in April 2009.