Dentons - UK Employment Law Round-up

Focus on unfair dismissal

February 28, 2017

We previously brought to your attention in our October 2016 newsletter the case of Trye v. UKME (UK Mission Enterprise Ltd). This looked at the extent to which an employer can take prior warnings issued to employees into account. The outcome of the case was confirmation that employers can take into account any live warning on the employee's personal file.

Gross negligence

February 28, 2017

It is rare for an employer to rely on an employee's negligence as a sufficient reason to dismiss. This is particularly the case where there has been a one-off error. Also, it is likely that a more reasonable approach would be to give the employee an opportunity to improve their performance. This would involve following a performance improvement procedure.

Focus on disability discrimination

February 28, 2017

Taylor v. Ladbrokes Betting and Gaming Ltd UKEAT/0353/15 concerned whether type 2 diabetes qualifies as a disability under the Equality Act 2010. This case reinforces the position that the most certain way an employer can show protection against disability discrimination is to obtain medical evidence which determines the likely future impact of the condition.

Is dismissal for showing an 18-rated film to pupils disability discrimination where an employer does not know the employee's misconduct arose from his disability?

February 28, 2017

This difficult question arose in City of York Council v. Grosset UKEAT/0015/16. This case shows an interesting point for employers to bear in mind in future concerning employees who have a disability of any kind.

How far does the duty to make reasonable adjustments extend, asked the EAT in The Home Office (UK Visas & Immigration) v. Kuranchie UKEAT/0202/16/BA.

February 28, 2017

The case reminds us that it is the duty of the employer to make reasonable adjustments, even if adjustment requests are not forthcoming from an employee. The duty can arise where a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage in three situations.

Data subject access requests: proportionality and legal professional privilege

February 28, 2017

By way of wider context, the parties in Holyoake v. (1) Candy and (2) CPC Group Limited [2017] EWHC 52 (QB), are currently engaged in a multi-million pound dispute relating to a loan agreement. This case will be of comfort to data controllers.

Regulatory references: the new rules of recruitment for the financial sector

February 28, 2017

On 7 March 2017, the recruitment practices of banks and insurers are changing with the introduction of mandatory regulatory references. It is expected that these rules will be rolled out to all PRA and FCA authorised firms in due course, but no firm date has been set at the moment.

In the press this month

February 28, 2017

Isobel Phillips, trainee, wrote an article on widening the scope of associative discrimination which was published in CIPD and Helena Rozman, associate, wrote an article on whether employers care enough about their employees who are likely to become carers in HR Magazine.