Can you treat it as gross misconduct? It has increasingly become a common tactic for employees who may be experiencing issues at work to covertly record meetings with their employer. The reasons for doing so range from the innocuous – for example, a fear of saying something that may be misrepresented – to the insidious; […]
Post Termination Restrictions The Supreme Court has upheld a non-compete restriction in the first employment competition case to have reached the highest court in over a century. In a historic decision, five Supreme Court justices unanimously concluded that an injunction should be restored, setting aside an order by the Court of Appeal. Background The case […]
Dealing with disciplinary issues This was the question before the Court of Appeal in the case of North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust v Gregg. The Law Where an employee’s alleged misconduct is also the subject of a police investigation, the question arises as to whether the employer should put on hold the disciplinary action […]
Evidence in the Employment Tribunal With the prevalence of mobile phones and the audio capabilities that they have, as an employer you may wonder whether a covert recording of a meeting, made by an employee, could potentially be used against you as evidence in an Employment Tribunal. The answer is not always simple, however past […]
What happens when someone influences a decision maker in a discriminatory way? In the recent case of the Metropolitan Police Force v Denby, the Employment Appeal Tribunal had to consider whether someone who influenced a decision maker in a discriminatory way could be regarded as a joint decision maker. The Law The Equality Act 2010 […]
Can previous conduct which has not resulted in disciplinary action be considered at dismissal stage? This was the question that faced the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the case of NHS 24 v Pillar. The Law In order to fairly dismiss an employee, an employer has to be able to show first that the reason for […]
Unfair Dismissal in the Court of Appeal In a recent case which has been decided by the Court of Appeal the question of an employer’s decision to dismiss an employee for what was essentially a poor and negative attitude and negative behaviours has been considered. The Law When an employee makes a claim for unfair […]
Dismissal without notice In this case the Court of Appeal have analysed what constitutes gross misconduct and whether a finding of gross negligence will also be gross misconduct. The Law In order to dismiss an employee without giving notice the employer must be satisfied that the employee has done something which could be classed as […]
Performance Management Issues When it comes to dealing with employee issues of performance it can be much harder to manage the process than straightforward misconduct issues, and as a result many business owners and managers I talk to just avoid it until the problem becomes completely unmanageable. There are numerous reasons given for letting poor […]
Getting suspension right I have been contacted by a large number of people recently who have been suspended from work in rather unusual circumstances or where suspension is clearly not justified, and therefore I thought it may be useful to remind employers of some key points to remember when suspending an employee. Can I suspend […]
Can an employee be fairly dismissed for failing to disclose a relationship with a sex offender? In this recent case decided by the Court of Appeal another very sensitive issue was considered and the reasonableness of a dismissal analysed in an unfair dismissal case where the employee failed to disclose the conduct of someone associated with her. The […]
Will the influence of HR in an investigation and disciplinary render a dismissal unfair? In a recent case decided by the Employment Appeal Tribunal the question of fairness of an employee’s dismissal was considered in respect of the influence that HR had on the investigation and subsequent disciplinary decision. The Law In order for a […]
Is the refusal of an employee’s choice of companion in an investigation meeting a breach of contract? In a recent case decided by the High Court the question of the right to be accompanied was once again before the Courts. There have been several cases lately regarding this right of employees and its application. The […]