Not Just For Families

09 / 05 / 2012

In the Queen’s speech later today we are expecting family friendly rights to be on the agenda. In particular, we will find out if the Government is going to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees. The CIPD believes that this would be a good move as research shows that flexible working supports employee retention, motivation and...

Requirement For Christian Employee To Work On Sundays Was Not Religious Discrimination

04 / 05 / 2012

The case of Mba v The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Merton gives employers some useful guidance as to how they should deal with an employee whose religious beliefs conflict with the requirements of the workplace. Celestina Mba is a practising Christian who believes that Sunday is a holy day on which engaging in rest and religious...

Unexpected Nonattendance

01 / 05 / 2012

The inquest into the death of M16 spy, Gareth Williams is underway. It is a very sad case of a young man who was found dead in his home, his body curled-up in a holdall. Mr Williams was working for M16 on a three year secondment working as a cipher and codes expert. Following a period of annual leave Mr...

How To Respond To An Employment Tribunal Claim

27 / 04 / 2012

This week, my colleague Susie represented the claimant at a mock-tribunal for a local CIPD group. Despite the fact that the respondent was represented by a very competent and experienced advocate, Susie won. So this week, I thought today I would write about responding to a tribunal claim, the ET1. When a claimant makes a complaint to the employment tribunal,...

Non-Renewal Of Fixed Term Contracts

23 / 04 / 2012

The non-renewal of a fixed term contract (FTC) can be regarded as a dismissal. Employers tend to assume that in most cases the non-renewal of a FTC will be for some other substantial reason, which is a potentially fair reason for dismissal. In fact, in the case of maternity cover, where FTCs are often used, section 106 of the Employment...