Weekly Issue 441

Leave for grandparents

The government last week announced that it would extend shared parental leave and pay to working grandparents.
As such, it will bring forward legislation to enable the change, with the aim of implementing the policy by 2018. It has also said that it will consult on the details in the first half of next year.

Direct harm

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 states that people must not pursue a “course of conduct” which they know (or ought to know) amounts to harassment of a victim. In Levi v Bates and ors the Court of Appeal held that there was no reason why a “victim of collateral damage” could not also sue for harm foreseeably caused by the course of conduct.

Fee payment

The law states that unfair dismissal claimants must present their tribunal claims within three months of the effective date of termination and pay a fee (or apply for remission). In Software Box Ltd v Gannon, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that tribunals can hear a second claim submitted late with the correct fee, even if the same claim had already been submitted within time but minus the fee payment.