Weekly Issue 243

Flexible working not burden on business

New figures obtained by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) show that the right to request flexible working is not a burden on business.

Light duties

Employers must make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees if a provision, criterion or practice (PCP) puts them at a disadvantage in comparison to those who are not disabled. In Salford NHS Primary Care Trust v Smith, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said that it was not a reasonable adjustment to expect the Trust to find some form of light work for a former employee or to allow her to take a career break.

Flying high

With the removal of the default retirement age, the issue of whether dismissal for retirement can ever be justified is likely to dominate cases of age discrimination for some time. In Prigge and ors v Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said that a collective agreement which allowed pilots to retire at 60 could not be justified.