Weekly Issue 39 - October 1999

TUPE still delivers

ECM (Vehicle Delivery Service) Ltd v Cox [1999] IRLR 559 (Court of Appeal) s38 Employment Relations Act 1999

The application of TUPE to contracting out continues to attract the attention of the courts and the government.

Up close and personal for company directors

R v F Howe & Son (Engineers) Ltd [1999] IRLR 434

Two recently reported decisions of the Court of Appeal make it clear that the Courts should be tougher when dealing with breaches of health and safety legislation.

Part-timers lose out in redundancy calculations

Barry v Midland Bank [1999] IRLR 581

The House of Lords' decision in Barry v Midland Bank, regarding the calculation of a severance package for a part-time worker, raises fundamental questions about the relationship between part-timers and discrimination law. However, the unsatisfactory and contradictory reasoning in the Lords decision ends up confusing more than it explains.

Works Councils arrive

Implementation of the European Works Council Directive: Consultative Document URN 99/926

The Government has published its proposals for implementing the European Works Councils Directive. The legislation must be brought into force by 15 December 1999, the deadline imposed by the Extension Directive which applied the original Directive to the UK, following the "signing up to the Social Chapter".

Redefining redundancy

Murray and another v Foyle Meats Limited [1999] IRLR 562

In a remarkably short judgment, the House of Lords may have ended years of uncertainty regarding the meaning of redundancy. In Murray and another v Foyle Meats Limited, the Lords decides what amounts to a redundancy situation, interpreting the statute and grappling with the old "contract" and "function" tests.

Two bites at the cherry

Wood & Others v William Ball Ltd EAT unreported

In a welcome decision, the EAT concludes that a Tribunal which decides not to refer an equal value case to an independent expert is not entitled to dismiss the applications summarily.

Hopes rise after AG delivers opinion

Shirley Preston & Others v Wolverhampton Heath Care NHS Trust & Others and Dorothy Fletcher & Others v Midland Bank Plc

In the long-running part timers' pensions access saga, referred to the European Court of Justice by the House of Lords last year, the Advocate General has now delivered his opinion.