Employment law during the coronavirus crisis

As lockdown gradually relaxes, how do firms decide who is reasonably required to come to the office and what are the risks associated with that? Edwin Coe outlines the legal position in the June issue of Compliance Monitor.

On 23 March 2020 the pause button was pressed on normality. All businesses have faced unprecedented challenges but for financial services firms the challenges are compounded by the overlay of the requirements of their regulators. The catalogue of regulatory developments since March 2020 is myriad. In April 2020 alone the Financial Conduct Authority issued 30 separate legal updates. This article focuses on those developments that relate to employment law issues.

The key advice for firms is found in the publication ‘Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) and Coronavirus (Covid-19): our expectations of solo-regulated firms’ of April 2020 and the similar joint FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority statement. This provides much needed guidance on what is expected of management and in some cases relaxation of specific regulatory requirements.

You can read the full article on the Compliance Monitor website (subscription required) or here.