Employment Law

Archived Publications

• Employment newsletter Summer 2009The change to British Summertime more or less coincides with the annual major changes to employment law. The biggest change this year is the repeal of the convoluted statutory grievance and dismissal procedures. For some the change is seen as exchanging one impractical set of rules for another impractical set; our view is that the repeal is well overdue and the new regime will lighten the load on employers but only to a degree. We have provided a short note on the transitional provisions that apply as the old regulations are faded out.
  
• ACAS Code of Practice - from 6 April 2009
  From 6 April 2009, the much maligned statutory dispute resolution procedures will be repealed. Instead, employers will have to comply with a new ACAS Code of Practice.
  
• Employment newsletter - Winter 2009
  With unemployment reaching an eleven year high and two-thirds of businesses predicting substantial job-cuts during 2009, getting to grips with the law on redundancy has never been more important. Getting it wrong can be very costly.
  
• Employment newsletter - Summer 2008
  The Employment Bill 2008 is still progressing through the commons and Royal Assent is expected over the summer. Most of the Bill will become law over the course of the remainder of the year and the first part of 2009. The key provision of the Bill is the revocation of the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures.
  
• Employment law newsletter - Winter 2008 Our first newsletter of 2008 looks at what we can expect from the coming year in the article on the Employment Bill, which was published last December. This includes the repeal of the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures which will be welcomed by most when it comes into force in 2009. Until then the current procedures should be observed.
  
• Employment Law: Common Conundrums (388kb Adobe PDF) I have a number of employees who have short term intermittent sickness absence on a Friday before a bank holiday Monday etc. At what point can I or should I start addressing this as a disciplinary matter?
  
• Smoking in the Workplace (1.08mb Adobe PDF) From 1 July 2007 smoking in all enclosed public spaces and most workplaces in England will be outlawed under the Health Act 2006 ("the Act") as is already the case in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.