March 2023 Newsletter
Hello, we are now into March and it’s time for our monthly employment law and HR update. Our last case law update looked at CCTV evidence and our January update included some interesting information on holiday pay.
Industrial Action
As some of you will no doubt be aware already, a great deal of industries have been subject to recent industrial action. One such area has been the Fire Brigades Union, who have recently accepted a pay deal with a final vote of 96% in favour of accepting the new pay deal.
Another industry that hasn’t found similar successes are those criminal law professionals acting for legal aid clients. Following an agreed 15% raise for criminal legal aid barristers, the same has not been given to their solicitor counterpart. A legal challenge of the decision is now being brought, but little in the way of statements can be found due to the ongoing nature of the legal action. Hopefully, this will do something to address the declining rates of those practising criminal law, as predictions show a reduction in 19% for duty solicitors and 16% fewer law firms handling criminal work at all by 2025.
End of Government Consultation for Harpur Trust v Brazel
With the ongoing discussions around the recent judgment in Brazel v Harpur Trust and the issues it is currently causing for calculating holiday pay for casual or zero-hours staff, we are now awaiting the results of the Government consultation, which closed on the 9th of March. The judgment, which meant that any holiday pay calculation should substitute non-working weeks with weeks with pay from the previous year when calculating holiday pay, could potentially double the cost of holiday pay depending on the amount of work done in a particular year.
With the consultation closed, we are now waiting on the Government’s next move in deciding how to address this case and the impact on employers of casual or zero-hour workers.
Rises in Minimum Wage – Seminar
We are very much looking forward to seeing many of you at our seminar, we will be discussing these changes and what they mean for you at Alltech House on 23rd March 2023.
We still have a few places available if you are interested in learning more about current issues and upcoming changes, as well as a free lunch and gift bag! Click on the link below if you are interested. Along with offering the opportunity to network with other industry professionals, we will be going over some of the biggest topics in employment law today, including the implications of the Brazel case on holiday pay, neurodiversity and HR, home working and redundancy consultation, and upcoming legislative changes.
More details and how to sign up can be found here.
Lighter Side of the News – Discrimination Over ‘PainInArse’
We end this newsletter with a recent employment matter that made its way into the news, an NHS Scientist has successfully argued discrimination following her name being changed to ‘PainInArse’ on a work spreadsheet. Along with having the contents of a ‘fluid sample’ thrown at her and her colleagues, this was unsurprisingly not the best working environment!
During the hearing at the Employment Tribunal the colleague responsible had argued that this was an honest mistake as it had been transferred over from her home computer. The fact that it wasn’t changed even following a complaint was enough to show grounds for the claim.
