The Practical Lawyer

 A barrister set up what was considered a pioneering practice under the Legal Services Act by bringing two barristers and a solicitor into the same business to provide services for criminal clients. The three directors were paid by dividend but fell out and a co-founding barrister brought claims including unfair dismissal, breach of contract and wages claims. 

Gender reassignment is a protected characteristic under s7 Equality Act 2010. Research suggests that a significant percentage of transgender employees experience harassment in the workplace and that many find it difficult to report this to their employer. It must be recognised that a lack of complaints about discrimination cannot be interpreted to mean that the workplace is free from discrimination and harassment. A useful article considers these issues and suggests the following practical tips for employers:

The CA recently considered whether the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) entitle agency workers to the same working hours as the hirer’s permanent employees. The agency worker had a placement with Royal Mail where he generally worked fewer than 20 hours each week. After a 12-week qualifying period, he became entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as directly employed staff in certain respects including the duration of working time. He argued that this entitled him to the same weekly working hours as Royal Mail employees.

We reported in our July/August edition (p11) on the case of Ali v Capita [2019] in which the CA concluded that the purpose of shared parental leave is the welfare and care of the child so the correct comparator for a claim by a man is a woman who is taking shared parental leave. Maternity pay is not a suitable comparator for the pay given for shared parental leave. An article considers what family leave policies should contain in the light of this and other cases and the forthcoming right to parental bereavement leave. It is important for employers to get this right as employees are protected from suffering detriment or dismissal for exercising their right to take family leave.