Posts By: Richard Ennis

An Employment Tribunal in Norwich has found that a Claimant’s vegetarianism was not the protected characteristic of religion or belief for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and that his Claim could therefore go no further. Mr Conisbee was employed by the Respondent as a waiter and barman for about 5 months until he… Read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that there was no appearance of bias justifying the overturning of an Employment Tribunal’s decision when an Employment Judge told a Claimant’s barrister during a Hearing that there was “no need to lie.” Mrs Balakumar was bringing an Employment Tribunal Claim. She was represented at the Hearing by… Read more

In an eagerly-awaited Judgment today the Supreme Court has confirmed that a bakery in Northern Ireland did not discriminate on when they refused to accept an order to make a cake bearing a slogan supportive of gay marriage. This is the so-called “Gay Cake” case. Mr and Mrs McArthur are Christians. They run a chain… Read more

The BBC reports today on a study by the University of the West of England which suggests that commuters so regularly use travel time for work emails that it should be classed as working time. 54% of commuters who were using wi-fi on the train journeys examined were sending work emails. Modern technology and the ability to… Read more

The Supreme Court has held that an Employment Tribunal was correct to find that a Head Teacher could be fairly dismissed for failing to disclose to her employer the fact that she had a close relationship with a sex offender. Ms Reilly was Head at a primary school in Sandwell. She had a close but non-sexual… Read more

The Daily Mail reports that the owner of a bus company in Somerset has unceremoniously dismissed the entire workforce through an internal message. Sydney Hardy allegedly told the staff of Nippy Bus that he had had enough, he could not work with the employees a minute longer, and they should regard themselves as being dismissed with… Read more

In a Judgment which has taken many people by surprise the Supreme Court has ruled that the Fees Order which introduced Employment Tribunal Fees in 2013 is unlawful. A summary of the Supreme Court’s decision is here but in essence the Fees were found to be unlawful because they were an unjustified interference in the right of… Read more

The dream of the 1960s was that technological advances would lead to a shorter working week and a new age of leisure for all. In fact, modern methods of communication have in fact lead to a situation where there is often an expectation that employees will constantly be on call. Many employees feel under pressure… Read more

At this time of year employment lawyers fall over themselves to put out guides to employers about the perils of the office Christmas Party and the legal liabilities that can arise as a result. This is tedious and predictable and I am not going to do it. What I will do instead is report on… Read more

Dementia is a disease of the brain that causes memory loss, personality change and impairs a person’s mental agility, understanding and judgement. It is most common in people aged over 65, however the number of people aged less than 65 being diagnosed with Dementia is increasing. There is currently no cure for dementia and it… Read more

The TUC has issued a Report , in association with the Everyday Sexism Project, which demonstrates that sexual harassment in the workplace is still a major issue. More than half – 52% of women surveyed stated that they had experienced some form of sexual harassment related to work. 80% of these incidents had occurred in the… Read more

There has been a developing narrative over recent years of Christian groups alleging that believers are discriminated against in the workplace. Analysis of the individual cases in question generally does not support this claim and the Employment Appeal Tribunal has now handed down a Judgment overturning the first instance decision and deciding that  a devout Christian… Read more

The Firm’s Annual Lexcel Monitoring Visit was completed in mid-March. For the first time we were assessed against the latest version of Lexcel and the firm passed with flying colours. In her Report Summary Assessor Jane Blackstock, echoing the Firm’s website strapline, said:- “With roots going back well over 100 years Rees Page is a… Read more

A couple of years ago I commented on a case where Morrisons were found by the Court of Appeal not to be liable to a customer who was physically assaulted by a member of staff at their petrol station in Small Heath. The Supreme Court has now in fact overturned that decision and has held that Morrisons were liable… Read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that a contractual term allowing an employer to lay an employee off due to lack of work is not subject to an implied requirement that this be limited to a reasonable time. Mr Craig worked in Computer Aided Design. He had been laid off due to shortage of work by… Read more

There has been a lot of media publicity in the last day or so about a Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights confirming that an employee’s human rights were not breached when his employer accessed his personal messages on their electronic systems. In fact this decision will not have come as any great… Read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that an Employment Tribunal was right to find that an employer did not discriminate against or harass an employee on grounds of race when it instructed her not to speak Russian in the workplace. Mrs Kelly worked for laboratories which carried out, amongst other things, animal testing. As a result… Read more

Lucy Allan, MP for Telford, is at the centre of another row  after allegations that she bullied an employee in a series of voicemail messages. This follows recent controversy over claims that the MP fabricated a supposed death threat in an email message that she had received from an anti-war protester. Arianne Plumbley was employed on… Read more

  The ink is barely dry on the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report and a couple of days later we have the minutes of the FPC meeting that informed its contents. The Report itself had a fair bit to say about Buy to Let but buried in the Minutes we have the following:-   … Read more