Proskauer - International Labor Law (JD Supra United Kingdom)

The UK Government has published further guidance and The Coronavirus Act 2020 Functions of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) Direction (the “Direction”) in relation to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”). This blog post covers similar ground to, and updates, the prior blog post on this topic.

Further to our prior blog post available here, the UK Government has published more detailed guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”). That guidance is available here and here. Here are some of the key questions the updated guidance now answers.

Over the past few days, the UK Government has announced various measures to assist employers/businesses protect jobs in these exceptional times. We have received a number of queries about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in particular. The Government has currently provided the following information about the scheme...

In the case of Tillman v Egon Zehnder [2019] UKSC 32, the UK Supreme Court, for the first time in over 100 years, has examined the law of post-termination restrictive covenants. As well as providing clarity of the law, the decision serves as a reminder of the importance of the doctrine of restraint of trade, which, in the words of Lord Wilson, who delivered the judgement...

Earlier this year, the UK Court of Appeal held that a class of 30,000 female Asda retail employees could compare themselves to male employees working in Asda’s distribution warehouses for purposes of their equal pay lawsuit. The Court’s analysis and decision has broad implications for gender pay litigation in the UK.

In most jurisdictions, there is a binary distinction between “independent contractors” and “employees,” with employment rights only afforded to “employees.” In the UK, there is a third class—“worker” —who benefit from certain employment rights, including paid time off and a minimum wage.

With the holiday party season just around the corner, tragic events in the United Kingdom present a worst-case scenario for reveling workers and for employers who may find themselves held responsible. Bellman v. Northhampton Recruitment Ltd. extends the bounds of employer vicarious liability where an employee is injured at a company-related social event. But, the extraordinary facts at play and...

What 2016 lacked in employment law changes, it made up with political surprises (Brexit) and sweeping data protection changes (the GDPR). Due to these dynamic changes and in anticipation of what lies ahead, our UK employment team published the Top Ten Things to Know About the UK Employment Law Landscape in 2017.

An Employment Tribunal in the United Kingdom ruled that a bicycle courier for CitySprint, a delivery firm, was a worker rather than self-employed and therefore entitled to paid leave. This is the most recent decision in a string of UK cases dealing with the “gig economy,” namely, repeated short-term work such as ride-sharing or courier services.

We wrote about the Draft Gender Pay Gap Regulations in the April 2016 edition of A Month in UK Employment Law. In December 2016, the UK Government published a revised version of these Regulations which are expected to come into force on 6 April 2017.

The High Court ruled on December 1, 2016 that Northampton Recruitment Limited was not liable when a manager punched an employee twice in the head after a Christmas party. While the Company was not held liable, the case is a cautionary tale for companies during the holiday season.

In Jeffrey v. The British Council 2016, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) ruled that an employee who had an “exceptional degree of connection” with the United Kingdom could bring claims in the UK even though he had been working outside of the UK for over 20 years. This provides an important exception to the general rule that employees have to be working in the UK to bring employment claims...

On July 30, 2016, newly-elected British Prime Minister, Theresa May, wrote an article detailing how her government would lead the charge in combatting modern slavery. As a major proponent of the UK Modern Slavery Act (and one who played a key role in the Act’s passage as former Home Secretary), May pledged to make it her personal mission to help eradicate the “barbaric evil” of slavery and human...

Employee’s Privacy Rights - European courts continue to grapple with the limits on employee protections under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Article 8 protects a person’s right to respect for their private and family life, and our blog has actively tracked developments on the subject. The UK’s Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently further defined the limits of...

The UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently considered two unfair dismissal cases in which an employer terminated an employee for inappropriately posting on personal Twitter or Facebook accounts. In both cases the EAT overturned the tribunal judge’s ruling for the employee; remanding one case for failure to apply the reasonable responses test and declaring the termination in the other case...

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 is new legislation introduced in the UK with the intention of combatting slavery and human trafficking. Continuing the trend for legislation to have extra-territorial reach, as illustrated by the UK Bribery Act, it can apply to entities based outside of the UK.

2013 has been a significant year for UK employment law. In particular, an abundance of new legislation (both about substantive law and Employment Tribunal procedure) has heralded a number of important changes. This publication provides an overview of the most significant developments of 2013 and those on the horizon for 2014 and 2015.