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Practice notes

Precedents

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The term of trust and confidence

Every contract of employment is treated as containing an imposed term of trust and confidence. This requires employers and employees not to conduct

Contractual redundancy payments

An employee is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment when:•he has been continuously employed for not less than two years•he has been dismissed,

Payment in lieu of notice (PILON)

The right to notice means a right for the employee to remain in employment for the period of notice, not simply to be paid for it. An employer will

Unfair dismissal remedies—general

Coronavirus (COVID-19): The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 (Week’s Pay Amendment Regs 2020),

Practice notes

Employment tribunal case management

Coronavirus (COVID-19): All proceedings in employment tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and until...

7th Oct

Precedents

Letter—TUPE (9) from employee objecting to transfer

[Strictly private and confidential][Address][Date]Dear [enter name(s) of relevant individual(s) at the transferor],Proposed transfer of [enter...

26th Sep

Precedents

Letter—from employer placing employee on garden leave

[To be typed on employer’s headed notepaper][Enter name and address of employee][Enter date]by handDear [enter name]Garden leaveI refer to [[enter...

26th Sep

Precedents

Draft outline script for disciplinary hearing (misconduct)

1Introductions of those present if necessary. Confirm who is taking notes and that copies of the meeting notes will be made available to the...

26th Sep

Precedents

Letter—long-term sickness absence (6): to employee confirming dismissal on notice (following final written warning)

[To be typed on headed notepaper of employer][Date]Dear [insert name of employee],Re: [insert name of employer] (the Company)Following our most recent...

26th Sep

Practice notes

No response, rejected response or claim not contested: employment tribunals

Coronavirus (COVID-19): All proceedings in employment tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and until...

26th Sep

Precedents

Letter—secondment letter (employer—employee)

BREXIT IMPACT: The drafting and enforcement of the applicable law (governing law) and jurisdiction clause in this Precedent may be affected by Brexit....

26th Sep

Precedents

Application—additional information (further and better particulars)

[Insert date][Insert] Employment Tribunal[Insert address]To the [insert] Employment Tribunal[Insert name of case, eg X v Y]Claim Number: [insert claim...

26th Sep

Precedents

ET3 grounds of resistance—unfair dismissal: protected disclosure

1Paragraph 1 of the Grounds of Claim is admitted.2As to paragraph 2 of the Grounds of Claim, it is denied that the Claimant’s colleagues were...

26th Sep

Precedents

Letter—TUPE (3) letter from transferee to transferor to inform of proposed measures

[To be typed on headed notepaper of transferee][Strictly private and confidential][Address][Date]Dear [enter name(s) of relevant individual(s) at the...

26th Sep

Practice notes

Unfair dismissal time limit

Three months beginning with the effective date of terminationAn unfair dismissal claim must generally be submitted to the employment tribunal within...

26th Sep

Practice notes

Qualifying period for unfair dismissal

For employees starting fresh employment on or after 6 April 2012, the right not to be unfairly dismissed generally only arises when the employee, by...

26th Sep

Practice notes

The duty of fidelity and fiduciary duties

All employees are under a duty of fidelity to their employer. The duty of fidelity is also known as the duty of good faith, or of loyalty.Fidelity is...

25th Sep

Practice notes

Striking out and unless orders in employment tribunal proceedings

Coronavirus (COVID-19): All proceedings in employment tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and until...

25th Sep

In-house

Practice notes

The basic award

Coronavirus (COVID-19): The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 (Week’s Pay Amendment Regs 2020),...

25th Sep

Practice notes

Definition of dismissal in unfair dismissal

To succeed in a claim of unfair dismissal, the claimant must establish that they were dismissed by the employer. A contract of employment may...

25th Sep

In-house

Most recent Q&As, weekly highlights, forthcoming developments content

Practice notes

Capping the size of public sector exit payments

UPDATE: On 22 July 2020, the government published its response to the consultation originally launched on 10 April 2019 on implementation of the...

25th Sep

Practice notes

The Trade Union Act 2016

The Trade Union Act 2016 (TUA 2016) includes a number of significant and controversial changes to the legal landscape affecting trade unions and...

25th Sep

Practice notes

EU employment rights and domestic implementing legislation

As of exit day (31 January 2020) the UK is no longer an EU Member State. However, in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK has entered an...

25th Sep

Brexit

Practice notes

Claw-back of public sector exit payments

NB: This Practice Note discusses legislation that is not yet in force. Implementation of this legislation has been substantially delayed, and there is...

26th Sep

Practice notes

2017–2019 Corporate governance reforms [Archived]

This archived Practice Note provided an overview of various corporate governance reforms that were announced and/or implemented between 2017–2019,...

26th Sep

Practice notes

Capping the size of public sector exit payments—2016 draft regulations [Archived]

ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note is retained for reference only and is not maintained. It discusses the capping provisions set out in the draft...

28th Sep

Q&As

Does a settlement agreement, eg under section 203 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, have to be executed as a deed? When executing documents by a company acting by its officers, do their signatures need to be witnessed?

There is no specific requirement, eg under section 203 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 for a settlement agreement to be entered into as a deed. For...

28th Sep

Q&As

What does Brexit mean for the Human Rights Act 1998?

Impact of BrexitBrexit will have no automatic impact on the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), or the incorporation of the European Convention on Human...

Produced in partnership with Alison Meacher of Hardwicke Chambers 28th Sep

Brexit

Q&As

Is Brexit considered a force majeure event?

The change to the economic and commercial environments within both the UK and the EU as a result of Brexit may impact on the underlying commercial...

28th Sep

Brexit

Q&As

Does an employer have a duty to report crimes committed by its employees?

There is no general obligation placed on individuals or organisations to report crimes in England and Wales. An employer is subject to the same...

28th Sep

Q&As

How can a partner be removed from a general partnership?

Section 25 of the Partnership Act 1890 provides that no majority of the partners in a general partnership can expel a partner unless such power has...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can an employer dismiss an employee during his probationary period after only four months service because he has underperformed, without going through a poor performance/disciplinary process?

An employer always retains the right to terminate an employee's contract of employment. However, the circumstances in which the dismissal occurs will...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can an employer make deductions for an overpayment of wages from statutory sick pay?

Statutory sick pay is included in the definition of ‘wages’ for the purposes of the right not to suffer unauthorised deductions.For further...

28th Sep

Q&As

Does an employer comply with the statutory requirements of section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, viz to give its workers a written itemised pay statement, if it requires workers to retrieve their payslips from a third party host that is cloud-based?

Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) provides that an employee has the right to be given a written itemised pay statement by their...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 28th Sep

Q&As

Where, on a redundancy, the employee is offered a renewed or new contract of employment which differs from his original contract and a trial period takes place, what is the effect of the employer deciding that the employee is not suited to the role and terminating the contract during the trial period?

Consideration of alternative employment on a redundancy is relevant to:•the fairness of the redundancy procedure—see Practice Note: Redundancy—fair...

28th Sep

Q&As

Which schools and educational establishments are ‘private’ and which are ‘public’ for the purposes of the gender pay gap reporting regulations?

The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/172 (often referred to as the ‘Private and Voluntary Sector’...

28th Sep

Q&As

In relation to disciplinary proceedings, if an employer is required to seek consent from a witness before sharing their witness statement eg with the employee who is the subject of disciplinary allegations, and the witness refuses to give their consent, should the witness statement be made anonymous before it is shared?

This query refers to the Acas step by step guidance on investigations for discipline and grievance: Step 4: If there are witnesses.Consideration will...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can an employer settle pension claims using a settlement agreement?

The answer to this will depend on :•the type of pension scheme in issue•whether an issue relating to pension has specifically been raised and/or there...

28th Sep

Q&As

Where a claimant provides an impact statement and medical records for the purposes of proving disability in an employment tribunal claim, and the employer subsequently forwards these to its occupational health advisers for the purposes of producing a report on the claimant (without the claimant’s consent), what are the claimant’s potential remedies, eg under the data protection legislation and the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988?

Use of disclosed informationIf a document has been disclosed, the other parties may only use it for the purpose of proceedings, unless:•it has been...

28th Sep

Q&As

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 (Week’s Pay Regs 2020), SI 2020/814, are employers able to pay notice pay at the reduced furlough rate of pay where the employer is required under the employment contract to give notice that is at least one week more than the employee’s statutory entitlement, ie sections 88 and 89 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 do not apply?

Where notice of termination of employment is given, either by the employer or the employee, and the employee has been continuously employed for one...

28th Sep

COVID-19