Employment Law Update

Morton Fraser are delighted to announce that Lindsey Cartwright joined the Employment Team as a partner from 5th January. Lindsey joins the firm from Maclay Murray & Spens where she has been a partner for a number of years.

Lindsey will be based in our Glasgow office and can be contacted at lindsey.cartwright@morton-fraser.com or at 0141 274 1141.

The Morton Fraser Employment Team has been shortlisted for Employment Team of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards 2010.

The prestigious awards promote excellence in Scotland's legal profession and the ceremony takes place on Friday 19th March at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

For the first time ever the annual review of Employment Tribunal compensation limits has resulted in a reduction in Compensation Limits. From 1 February 2010 the compensation limit, which is index linked, will be reduced from £66,200 to £65,300.

The weekly pay limit (for redundancy payments and for calculation of the Basic Award) will remain at £380.

With the introduction of the Equality Bill, fit notes instead of sick notes and greater protection for agency workers 2010 looks like being a busy year for HR professionals. We have put together an article setting out some of the key things to look out for in 2010:-

Employment Law Predictions For 2010

Don’t forget, you can keep up to date with changes in employment law in between bulletins on our employment blog. Recent topics covered have included:-

• Employment Law: Top 10 For 2010
• Bah Humbug! – Seasonal Employment Issues
• Dismissal For Refusal To Work With Gay Couples Discriminatory
• Manager Jailed For Lying To Employment Tribunal
• Policeman With Belief In Psychics Loses Tribunal Claim

Click here to view: Employment Blog

The Equality Bill was passed by the House of Commons at the beginning of December. The Bill will now progress to the House of Lords. For more information on what the Bill contains see our article on the Equality Bill.

The Government has announced plans to make the practice of blacklisting illegal. In a consultation held over from July 2009 this legislation could come into force in the spring of 2010 provided it is given the go ahead by Parliament. Blacklisting has reportedly been used by firms, often in the construction industry, to ascertain whether prospective employees are members of any trade unions.

A recent case from the Employment Appeal Tribunal has decided that an employee who was dismissed for refusing to work with fellow employees who were homosexual was not directly discriminated against on the grounds of religion. In McFarlane v Relate Avon Limited the EAT concluded that it was the employee’s failure to respect the employer’s equal opportunities rules rather than his Christian beliefs that resulted in the dismissal. In addition the dismissal was not held to be indirect discrimination because it was a proportionate method of realising the legitimate aim of supporting the community in a non-discriminatory fashion.

On a related note, the Court of Appeal has handed down its judgement in Ladele v London Borough of Islington . This case is better known as “The Christian Registrar Case”. Ms Ladele was a Christian Registrar who refused to carry out civil ceremonies involving non-heterosexual couples. As a result she was dismissed from her post. Ms Ladele then claimed that she had been discriminated against under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. The Court of Appeal has held that there is nothing in the Regulations that entitled Ms Ladele to refuse to carry out such civil ceremonies and that she had not been discriminated against either directly or indirectly. Nor was she harassed contrary to the Regulations.

Following on from the Government’s “Building a society for all ages” paper, which was published in the summer of 2009, the Government is now consulting on how the default retirement age will work in practice; the reasons industry uses mandatory retirement ages; the impact of increasing or removing the default retirement age; and how the cost of this removal or increase could be mitigated and the benefits flowing from it. The Consultation closes in February 2010.

In Standard Life Health Care Ltd v Gorman and Ors the Court of Appeal upheld an injunction preventing agents who were appointed representatives of Standard Life Health Care Ltd (SLH) from joining a competitor during the duration of their notice period.

Although there was no garden leave clause in their contracts, SLH was entitled to rely on a suspension clause, preventing the agents from working during their notice periods. This was the case even though it prevented the agents from earning money as they were paid on a commission only basis.

The court held that where an agent breaches his duty of good faith, the principal (ie SLH) is released from its obligation to provide work. This would most likely also extend to the employer / employee relationship.

We have launched an Employment Protection Package for employers to provide a comprehensive solution to employment law issues.
The Employment Protection Package includes:

• Annual employment documentation health check
• 24 hour access to employment law advice
• Tribunal awards insurance cover of up to £250,000 including legal costs
• Affordable monthly fixed fee payments

Click here for further details or for a free quote: Employment Protection Package