Eversheds and DLA Piper lose employment tribunal cases – Law Society’s Gazette

“Two national firms have separately lost appeals in the employment tribunal over their redundancy selection procedures.”

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 14th April 2011

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Male solicitor suffered sex discrimination – The Guardian

“Employers must act ‘proportionately’ when they provide women who are pregnant or on maternity leave with special treatment at work, an employment appeals tribunal has ruled.”

Full story

The Guardian, 6th April 2011

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Claes v Landsbanki Luxembourg SA (in liquidation) – WLR Daily

Claes v Landsbanki Luxembourg SA (in liquidation) (Joined Cases C-235/10–239/10); [2011] WLR (D) 74

“Articles 1 and 3 of Council Directive 98/59/EC, concerning the procedure to be adopted upon collective redundancies, applied to the termination of the activities of an employing establishment as a result of a judicial winding up on grounds of insolvency, even where, in the event of such a termination, national legislation provided for the termination of employment contracts with immediate effect. Until the legal personality of an establishment whose dissolution and winding up had been ordered had ceased to exist, the obligations under article 2 and 3 of the Directive, concerning consultation of employees and notification of public authorities, had to be fulfilled.”

WLR Daily, 9th March 2011

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note that once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Law firms report rise in job-related legal advice cases – The Guardian

“Solicitors are experiencing a sharp rise in the number of people seeking legal advice as to whether they have a case for unfair dismissal against their employers, despite the latest official figures last week showing a drop in unemployment.”

Full story

The Guardian, 18th August 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Unions threaten strike action over civil service redundancy deal – The Guardian

“Civil service unions are threatening strike action after the government announced a ‘non-negotiable’ new redundancy deal that will reduce pay-outs for compulsory redundancies from a maximum of more than six years to just one year.”

Full story

The Guardian, 6th July 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Government accused of declaring war on unions over strike law and redundancy plans – The Guardian

“The government was today (5 July) accused of declaring war on trade unions as ministers moved to cut the redundancy terms of public sector workers and reports emerged of plans to tighten up the law on strike ballots.”

Full story

The Guardian, 5th July 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

CBI calls for shake-up of UK’s labour laws – The Guardian

“The TUC has condemned new proposals from the powerful business lobby group CBI to make it harder for workers to strike as ‘a charter for exploitation at work’.”

Full story

The Guardian, 21st June 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Civil service redundancy decision is not quite the victory we thought – The Guardian

“Earlier this month, the Public and Commercial Services Union challenged the government’s attempts to reduce the level of redundancy pay for civil servants, and won. The case has been hailed as a ‘major victory’, but it may not be the triumph it first appears.”

Full story

The Guardian, 28th May 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Sex discrimination victory for man – The Independent

“A male lawyer was wrongfully sacked because bosses were worried they would be sued if they fired his female counterpart while she was on maternity leave, it emerged yesterday.”

Full story

The Independent, 19th May 2010

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Eversheds to fight employment tribunal bias ruling – Law Society’s Gazette

“National firm Eversheds last week lodged an appeal against an Employment Tribunal ruling that it must pay £123,300 in compensation to a male associate who suffered sexual discrimination during the firm’s 2009 redundancy programme.”

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 13th May 2010

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Civil servants win redundancy pay court challenge – The Guardian

“A union today won its court case to block cost-cutting measures that threaten the level of redundancy pay for civil servants. Lawyers for the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) successfully argued that changes made to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme without agreement were unlawful.”

Full story

The Guardian, 10th May 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

City workers shouldn’t take offence at sexist comments, tribunal rules – Daily Telegraph

“Female bankers should not take offence when confronted with sexist remarks in the workplace, a tribunal has ruled.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 15th April 2010

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Rolls Royce plc v Unite the Union – Times Law Reports

Rolls Royce plc v Unite the Union

Court of Appeal

“Length of service was a lawful criterion for selection for redundancy since it achieved a legitimate aim by a proportionate means.”

The Times, 27th May 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Rolls Royce plc v Unite the Union – WLR Daily

Rolls Royce plc v Unite the Union [2009] EWCA Civ 387

“A length of service criterion within the selection matrix for redundancy selection, contained in collective agreements between a company and a workers’ union, was not in breach of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, in that the inclusion of the criterion was a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’ within reg 3(1)(b).”

WLR Daily, 19th May 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note: once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Rise in use of drug tests to sack staff without redundancy pay – The Guardian

“Employers are increasingly using drug testing to get rid of staff without having to make redundancy payouts, as a way of ­cutting costs during the recession, a ­charity has said.”

Full story

The Guardian, 18th May 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Longer-serving workers allowed protection from redundancy – The Times

“Companies can take employees’ length of service in to consideration when choosing who should be made redundant, the Court of Appeal said today, in a ruling that will protect older workers in the current downturn.”

Full story

The Times, 14th May 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Neufeld and Another – Times Law Reports

Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Neufeld and Another

Court of Appeal

“A person who was a majority shareholder and director of a company could also be an employee of that company under a contract of employment, even if he had total control of the company.”

The Times, 10th April 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Employers fail to follow redundancy procedures – The Times

“Thousands of workers made redundant by major City institutions could have a legal claim without realising it, according to lawyers.”

Full story

The Times, 7th April 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Redundancy in the City: painful lessons for the big beasts – The Times

“Simon Davies, Linklaters’ managing partner, says that the good times will return to big City firms – but in a different guise.”

Full story

The Times, 2nd April 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Recession-hit firms ‘use dodges to shed staff without redundancy pay’ – The Guardian

“Struggling companies seeking to cut staff are avoiding the cost of redundancy payments by sacking workers for spurious reasons or falsely claiming they face only a temporary layoff, figures from advice groups and tribunals show.”

Full story

The Guardian, 16th February 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Clifford Chance to axe up to 80 London lawyers – The Times

“Clifford Chance, the world’s largest law firm by revenues, has begun a redundancy consultation that could see up to 80 lawyers losing their jobs in London.”

Full story

The Times, 8th January 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Day v Haine and Another – Times Law Reports

Day v Haine and Another

Court of Appeal

“Protective awards made by an employment tribunal following the failure of a company to comply with its statutory obligation to consult concerning collective redundancies before going into liquidation were contingent debts of the company and therefore provable debts in the liquidation.”

The Times, 22nd July 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

Ex-workers win £2m compensation – BBC News

“Hundreds of steelworkers who lost their jobs in Newport will receive a share of nearly £2m in redundancy money.”

Full story

BBC News, 13th June 2008

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Day v Haine and another – WLR Daily

Day v Haine and another [2008] EWCA Civ 626; [2008] WLR (D) 188

“Where a company had failed to comply with its statutory obligation to consult its workforce before going into liquidation and subsequently protective awards were made by an employment tribunal, the obligation had arisen before the liquidation and the protective awards were therefore contingent debts of the company within rr 12.3 and 13.12 of the Insolvency Rules 1986 and provable in the liquidation. Moreover, the failure to consult concerning collective redundancies also infringed European law which the United Kingdom was under a duty to implement and to ensure that the penalty for infringement would be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.”

WLR Daily, 12th June 2008

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

UK Coal Mining Ltd v National Union of Mineworkers (Northumberland Area) and Another – Times Law Reports

UK Coal Mining Ltd v. National Union of Mineworkers (Northumberland Area) and Another

Employment Appeal tribunal

“Where an employer was proposing to dismiss employees for redundancy, the obligation to consult arose at the point when closure of the enterprise was fixed as a clear, albeit provisional, intention and included consultation over the reason for the closure.”

The Times, 23rd November 2007

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication

Legal ruling safeguards UK jobs – BBC News

“Following a landmark legal ruling this week, employers will now need to consult trade unions before they make a decision to close a workplace in the UK.”

Full story

BBC News, 26th October 2007

Source: www.bbc.co.uk