Ashfords’ Employment Team continues to bring you updates on some of the key employment and immigration developments.
One of the first things an employer will need to consider when commencing a redundancy exercise which involves reducing staff numbers, is which employees it is appropriate to “pool” together for the purposes of deciding who will be selected and dismissed for reason of redundancy. Failure to consider what the appropriate “pool” of employees will be, and to apply reasonable selection criteria to the redundancy selection process, may result in a claim being brought and the redundancy dismissal being deemed unfair by an Employment Tribunal.
This article looks at the case of
Three private members bills have been given second readings in Parliament, all of which will have a notable impact on employers if they become law.
All three came through their respective second reading with government support and look set to progress through the legislative process and become law in the not-to-distant future.
This article examines the new bills and provides analysis on how tribunals will be affected.
Further to our article Considering menopause as a protected characteristic, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now published its response to the Menopause and the Workplace: How to enable fulfilling working lives independent report, originally published in November 2021.
The Equality Act 2010 lists 9 “protected characteristics” on which discrimination claims can be based. Those characteristics are age, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy/maternity, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
The government has confirmed it will not be making changes to the Act to include menopause as a protected characteristic. It is believed that the inclusion of sex, age and disability as protected characteristics provides protection against unfair treatment of employees going through the menopause.
Despite menopause not being a specified “protected characteristic”, a report by the Menopause Experts Group has also been released this year, finding that the number of tribunal cases which cite menopause increased by 44% in 2021.
Click here to read the full article.
If you require any advice on these updates, please contact our Employment team.
We produce a range of insights and publications to help keep our clients up-to-date with legal and sector developments.
Sign up
