Keeping up to date
We take seriously our responsibility to keep you up to date so that you can use changes in employment law to commercial advantage. By understanding and interpreting the latest case law and legislation we can deliver updates to you that are concise and usable. With imagination, we are able to ensure that developing law can be used to allow you to achieve commercial solutions, cost effectively and expediently.
Legal lightbulb – people law, policy and practice
As part of keeping you in our focus, our ‘legal lightbulb’ update ensures you’re on top of the latest changes in legislation, case law, and people trends.
New government guidance on holiday pay
Following the holiday pay changes introduced on 01 January 2024, the government has released comprehensive guidance here. A reminder of what the changes include:
- Rolled-up holiday will be permitted for those working irregular hours which means you can uplift their hourly pay by 12.07% to take account of their holiday. More detail here.
- For workers and employees whose pay varies (perhaps due to commission, overtime or something else), their holiday pay must be calculated to include these variable elements of their pay. More detail here.
Case law on ‘dead-naming’
Dead-naming is referring to a transgender person by the name they used before they transitioned. £25,000 compensation has been awarded after an employer ‘dead-named’ an employee for over two years. The employer didn’t take her complaints seriously after failing to change her details on their staff directory, door passes and pension records. They also attached a note to her locker with her former name simply crossed out and her new name written on.
Knowing how to support transitioning employees is an important part of your People Team’s and manager’s skill sets. If they need a reminder on tricky discrimination issues or dealing proactively with equality and diversity we have training to support – get in touch to discuss.
Employment contracts can’t limit compensation
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that employment contracts cannot cap the compensation an employee may be entitled to at tribunal. In this case, the employee’s employment contract capped any compensation on termination to £270,000. The tribunal found that the employee had suffered a detriment after making a whistleblowing disclosure and was automatically unfairly dismissed. The contract clause was ineffective and the employee was awarded over £1million in compensation!
Employment contracts can be tricky documents to get right. If you’re not used to dealing with them regularly and don’t have a full understanding of the employment law implications, let us know – we can support with reviews, updates and redrafting!
People diary dates – February 2024
01 – Time to Talk Day | Starting conversations about mental health
05-11 – National Apprentice Week | Celebrating their achievements
01-29 – LGBT+ History Month | Celebrating LGBT+ lives in their full diversity