Dentons - UK Employment Law Round-up

Applying for settled status – an update on the process

August 30, 2018

The government has published further details of its settlement scheme. We provide an update on this scheme, including how to apply for settled status and on application deadlines.

Confidentiality concerns

August 30, 2018

In the wake of the #metoo movement, the use of "gagging clauses" has been highly criticised. Despite the nefarious image of these clauses, they have long been used to draw a line under potential disputes between employers and employees. In this article, we examine the use of these types of confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements.

Employers can focus on their own interests in defending vicarious liability proceedings unimpeded by reputational and economic concerns of employees

August 30, 2018

In a helpful case for employers, the Supreme Court has decided that an employer does not owe a duty to its employees to protect them from economic or reputational harm when defending vicarious liability proceedings. Rather, it is open to an employer to focus on its own interests in defending such claims. In this article, we examine this case in more detail.

Are declining sickness absence levels unhealthy for your business?

August 30, 2018

The average number of sick days taken by employees in the UK in 2017 was 4.1, almost half the average for 1993 (7.1). Many are attributing this decrease to a phenomenon known as "presenteeism", the term used to describe employees who continue to show up for work, despite being potentially unfit to do so. Presenteeism has been linked to stalled or even reduced productivity and is also likely to be connected to long-term sickness absence.