Weekly Issue 118 - January 2007

In the news

A number of new compensation limits come into force on 1 February 2007.

Adjusting for disability

Section 6 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 states that employers have to take reasonable steps (or make adjustments) if any “arrangements” they make put a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared to someone who is not disabled.

Contracted in

Terms of contracts can be express, implied or, sometimes, incorporated from another document but, even if a document is expressly incorporated into a contract, that does not mean all the terms have been.

Getting informed

New information and consultation (I and C) rules applying to businesses and organisations with 150 or more staff were introduced in the UK in 2005.

It’s good to talk

It is now over two years since the Government introduced legislation to regulate disputes in the workplace. Not surprisingly, quite a few cases have already made their way to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), although none (as yet) to the Court of Appeal.

Railway racism

It is notoriously difficult for claimants to win in race discrimination cases not least because the discrimination is rarely overt or because there is little or no concrete evidence.

Shifting burden

In discrimination cases, the first stage is for workers to identify facts from which a tribunal could conclude that there has been unlawful discrimination.

The high life

There are a number of ways that employers can discriminate under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA): direct discrimination; discrimination for a reason relating to the disabled person’s disability; and failing to make reasonable adjustments.