Overview of the General Data Protection Regulations

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 30/05/2017 The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) have been a long time in the making but it has been confirmed that the UK will adopt them prior to Brexit. GDPR will come into force in May 2018 and will replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive. Organisations which do not comply will run the risk of...

Bike Courier Wins Workers’ Rights in “GIG Economy” Case

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 01/02/2017 Numerous headlines in 2016 made reference to the “gig economy” and reports suggest that almost 5 million people in the UK are engaged in the “gig economy”. In early 2017 an Employment Tribunal in England issued a Decision which will have a further significant impact on this sector. What is the “gig...

Apprenticeship Levy Update

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 08/12/2016 The Government is committed to boosting productivity by investing in human capital by introducing an Apprenticeship Levy (“the Levy”) on all employers (in both the private and the public sectors) in the UK. The hope is that this will increase the quantity and quality of apprenticeships. It will als...

Unreasonable Restrictive Covenant Declared Unenforceable

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 22/08/2016 The purpose of it is to protect the employer's confidential information, customer connections, its goodwill and the stability of its workforce. However, it is important to note that such covenants are not always appropriate or even enforceable. This article will examine a recent case in which the r...

Dove v Brown & Newirth Ltd – Workplace Nicknames and Unfair Dismissal

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 21/06/2016 Facts of the Case Mr Dove was a sales representative for Brown & Newirth Ltd (“the Respondent”), a jewellery manufacturer, which employed about 43 people. He had worked for the Respondent for 25 years and had a clean disciplinary record. In 2011 Mr Ball began working for the Respondent as a sal...

Whistleblowing: whose interest is it in?

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 16/03/2016 The law relating to whistleblowing in Northern Ireland will shortly be amended by the Employment Bill which is currently working its way through the Northern Ireland Assembly. The proposed changes will mirror recent reform of whistle blowing legislation in England & Wales following the EAT deci...

The Cost of the National Living Wage

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 18/12/2015 National Minimum Wage (NMW) workers aged 25 and over will, from April 2016, see an increase in their hourly earnings. The National Living Wage (NLW) will be introduced in April 2016, with a starting rate of £7.20. This will be the new legal wage floor for all workers aged 25 and over, with the curr...

Unfair Dismissal - The Band of Reasonable Responses

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 20/11/2015 The recent Court of Appeal decision in Robert Newbound v Thames Water Utilities Limited [2015] EWCA is a reminder that although an employer’s decision must only be within the band of reasonable responses to be fair and a Tribunal cannot substitute its own view for that of the employer, the “band of...

Legal Obligations and Standards for Directors, Trustees and Members of Boards of Governors

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 20/10/2015 As society becomes ever more regulated, it is easy to forget the burgeoning amount of legal obligations impacting on organisations in the private and third sectors. It is important for all company directors, charity trustees and members of boards of governors to be aware of these legal obligations ...

Shared Parental Leave & the Risk of Discrimination

Posted in: Immigration and Employment Updates on 29/04/2015 The introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in Northern Ireland by the Work and Families (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 presents one of the biggest shake-ups to family leave provisions in recent times. This article considers some of the main changes brought in by the Act and the potential of discr...