Weekly issue 114 - September 2006

In the News

Following a report by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in 2005 (Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People), the Government has decided to set up an advisory body.

Paying by Results

Section 221(3) of the Employment Rights Act (ERA) says that if an employee's pay for normal working hours varies with the amount of work done, then a week’s pay is calculated at the average hourly rate of pay for the previous 12 weeks.

Stressed Out

For a claim of workplace negligence to be successful, claimants have to be able to show, among other things, that their employer could have foreseen their injury.

Time Transfer

In a long-running saga, the House of Lords has decided in the case of Celtic Ltd -v- Astley (2006, IRLR 635), that the contracts of seconded civil servants had automatically transferred over at the start of their secondment.

A Trusted Policy

The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) says that employers cannot justify a case of direct discrimination.

Working Time

The definition of working time has proved crucial in the case of MacCartney -v- Oversley House Management (2006, IRLR 514). Following an earlier European decision, the employment appeal tribunal (EAT) said that workers who have to be on site for 24 hours are “working” for the whole period, even if they are allowed to sleep during that time.

Working to Time

In yet another case about the definition of working time – Anderson -v- Jarvis Hotels – the employment appeal tribunal (EAT) has applied working time case law to a breach of contract wages claim, moving it on from its normal context of the national minimum wage.

You're How Old

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 come into effect on 1 October 2006, implementing the Framework Directive 2000/78/EC. For the first time in the UK, discrimination on grounds of age will be unlawful.