Asia and Australia

Asia and Australia

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Latest Employment News

Employment weekly highlights—18 September 2025

This edition of Employment weekly highlights includes: (1) rejection of the House of Lords amendments to the ERB by the House of Commons, (2) confirmation from the CJEU on the applicability of associative discrimination in indirect disability discrimination claims, (3) analysis of a Court of Appeal decision that state immunity did not apply to an Embassy employee’s tribunal claims, (4) an EAT case on costs awards for unreasonable conduct, (5) the October 2025 edition of the Industrial Relations Law Reports (IRLR), (6) dates for your diary, (7) a new Q&A, and (8) other news items of interest to employment practitioners.

Study published on flexible working reform and gendered outcomes

The Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health has published a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) examining the effects of the extension of the ‘right to request’ flexible working on uptake of flexible working and well-being. Drawing on data from over 15,000 employees in the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010–2020), the study found that the extension has led to increased uptake of reduced hours arrangements among women, with the effect strengthening over time. This was linked to improvements in psychological well-being and life satisfaction for women. No comparable changes were observed for men and use of flexitime and teleworking remained largely unchanged across both groups. The study notes that patterns of uptake may reflect existing workplace norms and gender roles.

Court of Appeal rules state immunity did not apply to Embassy employee’s tribunal claims

Employment analysis: An employment tribunal was entitled to find that state immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978 (SIA 1978) did not apply to employment tribunal claims brought by an employee who worked in the academic and cultural affairs departments of the Saudi Arabian Embassy, according to the Court of Appeal. In its judgment, the court expressed doubt over two previous decisions on state immunity: the EAT decision in Ogbonna on the personal injury exception in SIA 1978, s 5; and the Court of Appeal decision in Aziz on the issue of waiver of state immunity.

Employers expect budget reform on pension salary sacrifice

Law360: Nine out of ten employers expect the government to ditch tax breaks on pension salary-sacrifice arrangements when it unveils its autumn Budget, a survey has found.