A constructive dismissal arises where an employer fundamentally (seriously) breaches the employment contract and the employee resigns in response to the breach. The EAT has recently overruled an employment tribunal’s analysis of what a fundamental breach must entail...
An employer should follow the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures when dealing with grievances or dismissing an employee for disciplinary reasons such as misconduct or poor performance. The Code does not apply to redundancy dismissals. If...
Restrictive covenants are terms in contracts of employment which restrict the employee’s activities after employment has ended. They will be void – and unenforceable – for being in restraint of trade unless the employer can show it has a legitimate...
If an employee wins an unfair dismissal claim, the employment tribunal can award compensation that they consider to be ‘just and equitable’ bearing in mind the employee’s losses. In most cases, there is a statutory limit on the amount of compensation that can be...
New regulations have been put before Parliament which change the rules on who can sign employees off sick from work. Usually the work of a GP, and limited currently to doctors, the new rules allow other healthcare professionals to provide employees with fit notes for...
The B word – banter – is a word employers should dread. Good teams will thrive on a joke or two between workplace friends. However, offensive and potentially discriminatory comments can be masked as ‘banter’, indicating to the recipient that taking offence...
