In the recent case of Kathryn Hopkins v The Commissioners for her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) [2020], an employee was arrested by the police for serious criminal offences including a serious sexual offence. She disclosed the fact to her employer and was immediately suspended on full pay pending disciplinary proceedings for possible gross misconduct, with
Jaguar Land Rover has been ordered to pay £180,000 compensation to a gender fluid engineer who was subjected to harassment and discrimination at work. Rose Taylor had worked for Jaguar for 20 years and had initially identified as male. She began identifying as gender fluid in 2017 and started dressing in women’s clothing. This resulted
A gender-fluid engineer who endured insults and jibes from fellow workers has won a discrimination claim against Jaguar Land Rover. The case involved Ms R Taylor who had worked for Jaguar for 20 years and had initially identified as male. She began identifying as gender fluid in 2017 and started dressing in women’s clothing. This
The government is introducing a series of changes to increase the flexibility and capacity of the employment tribunal system during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new measures will also allow tribunals to deal with increasing caseloads, following the abolition of employment tribunal fees in July 2017. It means there will be more remote hearings so tribunals
The Administrative Court has made a declaration clarifying that the legal definition of “”employment”” includes people who provide their services on a self-employed basis as an independent contractor. The declaration was made after the Simply Learning Tutor Agency Ltd and eight other similar agencies applied for a declaration that the Employment Agencies Act 1973 does
An employee who was suspended from her work after being arrested for a serious sexual offence has lost her claim for breach of contract. The employee, who worked for HMRC, was arrested in August 2018. In accordance with her employment contract, she disclosed the arrest and the sexual offence to her line manager, who further
The High Court has lifted an interim injunction restraining an employee from working at another company. The case involved Peltrade Ltd, a distributor of energy-producing wood pellets. In March 2018 it had employed Mr Dean Scanlan to trade in premium and industrial quality pellets, but he had worked primarily in the premium pellet sector. His
A heating engineer involved in a dispute with his employer over whether he should be paid for time spent travelling to jobs was unfairly dismissed. That was the decision of the Employment Tribunal in a case involving Thomas Holloway, who worked for Aura Gas from January 2015 until September 2019. He worked 45 hours per
HM Revenue & Customs has rejected more than 30,000 applications from employers wishing to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, according to research carried out by The Times. The newspaper says HMRC believes many of the applications may have been attempts to defraud the system, in which the government pays a percentage of the wages
GKN Aerospace has won an appeal over a break clause for a flat it had leased. The issue arose after GKN leased the flat from Duncan Investments Ltd in 2015. The lease contained an option to renew, and a break option entitling GKN to terminate on giving at least two months’ notice. During the second