Weekly Issue 274

More employment law changes

In a further attack on the employment rights of working people, the government has just announced that low-paid workers who go on strike will lose the right to have their wages topped up under the benefit system.

Illegal conduct

There is a general rule that employees cannot bring most Tribunal claims if the contract itself is illegal, but what about discrimination claims? In Hounga v Allen, the Court of Appeal said that applicants cannot bring a claim if it is inextricably linked with their own illegal conduct.

Organised grouping

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), there has to be “an organised grouping of employees” for a service provision change to have occurred. In Seawell Ltd v Ceva Freight (UK) Ltd and Moffat, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said that a “grouping” could not be said to be “organised” if employees just happened to end up working mostly on tasks that benefitted a particular client.