Agency workers rights – only 18 months to go
This issue of the Brief contains an update on the Agency Workers Regulations, which were laid before Parliament in January. As they’re not due to come into force until 1 October 2011, hirers and employment agencies will be breathing a sigh of relief that they still have 18 months to come to term...More in Employment Law Brief 897, March 2010
EU law: it boldly goes and knows no bounds
Age discrimination features heavily in this edition of Brief, with three European Court of Justice decisions on the topic, but one of the judgments has much wider implications than most. Kücükdeveci v Swedex, which we report on page 3, breaks no new ground in terms of the law on justifying age discrimination. The fact that the ECJ then set aside a provision of national law in a dispute between private individuals, on the other hand, will raise some eyebrows...More in Employment Law Brief 896, March 2010
Collective rights and procedural wrongs
Ask any employment lawyer who has been practising for 20 years or more what the biggest change in employment law has been over his or her career and, more likely than not, he or she will point to the decline in the perceived importance of collective labour law. Whereas those who were at law school in the 1980s...More in Employment Law Brief 895, February 2010
Gender pay – mind the gap
As the Equality Bill travels through its final Parliamentary stages – it is currently in the committee stage of the House of Lords – some important developments have been making the news. The first is the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s publication of its proposals on how employers should...More in Employment Law Brief 894, February 2010
Religious beliefs in the spotlight again
The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 SI 2003/1660 have been in force for just over six years, and two recent decisions, reported in this edition of the Brief, are the latest additions to a growing body of case law. The first ruling of note is the Court of Appeal’s decision in Ladele v Islington Borough Council, in which the Court upheld the EAT's finding that a Registrar for Births, Deaths and Marriages was not discriminated against on account of her Christian beliefs when the Council threatened her with disciplinary action for refusing to carry out civil partnership ceremonies. More in Employment Law Brief 893, January 2010
Will equality fit the bill in election year?
This special edition of Brief reviews 2009’s key employment law developments. From a legislative point of view, the story of the year was the as-yet incomplete journey of the Equality Bill into law (of which more below). However, the demise of the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures also deserves a mention. Their abolition stands out as the only wholesale about-turn in Government employment policy since Labour came to power in 1997.More in Employment Law Brief 892, January 2010