A philosophical belief might be a protected characteristic if it:
• Is genuinely held and isn’t just a viewpoint or an opinion;
• Relates to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour;
• Attains a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance and be worthy of respect in a democratic society;
• Is compatible with human dignity and not conflict with other people’s fundamental rights.
Worker status is the holy grail in the gig economy, including the fields of taxi rides, food delivery and courier services. Workers are entitled to certain employment rights such as the national minimum wage and paid holiday, whereas the genuinely self-employed are not. Section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 defines a worker as someone who works under a contract of employment or another contract ‘where the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work…for another party who…is not…a client or customer of…the individual’. Case law has expanded on this definition and looked at issues such as mutuality of obligation, control, integration into the business and personal service.
If an employee wins a discrimination claim, the employment tribunal will award compensation for injury to feelings. There are three bands: top band for the most serious cases (currently £26,300 – £44,000); middle band for serious cases not worthy of a top band award (£8,800 – £26,300) and bottom (£900 – £8,800) for less serious cases including one off incidents. The award is based on the effect of the discrimination on the employee, rather than the gravity of the discrimination. The EAT highlighted this important distinction in Komeng v Creative Support.
Amy harasses Bill if she does something in relation to a protected characteristic (race, sex, disability etc) which has the purpose or effect of violating Bill’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for him. If Amy harasses Bill ‘during the course of employment’ then the employer will be vicariously liable for her conduct unless they can show that they took all reasonable steps to prevent it.
In unfair dismissal cases, both the compensatory and basic awards can be reduced by the tribunal, potentially to zero, based on the employee’s conduct before dismissal. Secret recordings of meetings by an employee can be admissible evidence in cases if the tribunal thinks it is relevant. However, secretly recording a meeting might amount to misconduct, depending on the employer’s rules.
Harassment has been in the legal news again this month.
Anthony harasses Belinda if he does something in relation to a protected characteristic (race, sex etc) which has the purpose or effect of violating Belinda’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her. The connection between the protected characteristic and the conduct is key. The burden of proof – who must prove what – is important in discrimination cases too. If an employee can prove facts from which, in the absence of another explanation, a tribunal could conclude harassment has occurred, then the burden of proof shifts to the employer to show that it did not happen. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has looked at both these issues in Raj v Capita Business Services.
Continue ReadingWhen is it okay to be out of time?
It is not unusual for parties and their legal advisers to agree, despite time limits set out in legislation, to disregard these time limits to give them an opportunity to try and agree their dispute without court proceedings. If they manage to do so they save significant sums on court fees and other associated costs of bringing the claim. If they don’t settle their dispute, they still have the option to pursue their claim, even if the time limits set out in the legislation has expired. Such agreements are referred to as ‘Standstill Agreements’.
Continue ReadingIn recent years, two popular topics of conversation have been the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the blockchain. The GDPR is legislation which provides new protection for individuals in relation to their personal data. The blockchain is a variant of distributed ledger technology, which some people believe will create new business models, cut costs, and provide new ways of verifying identity.
Continue Reading
Andrew Koffman
We shared this article in February 2017 and then this article in July 2017, which explained the current rules on recovery of costs by the winner of a court action from the loser. It had been proposed to introduce a “fixed recoverable costs” regime for business and other civil disputes, similar to the one for minor personal injury claims.
Two years on, what if anything has changed?
Continue ReadingAndrew Koffman
The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 left 72 people dead, many injured and hundreds homeless and shone a spotlight on the construction of high-rise apartments. It was quickly concluded that the Aluminium Composite Material (ACM), that was used to clad the building, was the reason why the fire spread so rapidly and extensively.
Continue Reading
| 
