In this week’s MMD, we look forward to the upcoming general election and review some of the suggested changes to Employment Law proposed by the two main political parties.

In the media section, Daniel has prepared the second part of his video looking at day one rights for agency workers.

Outside the world of employment and regulatory law we are excited to promote an event hosted by our corporate team on future proofing your business.

THE MMD PODCAST

Episode 29:  What would Labour do?

Join Sam and Nils as they discuss Labour’s proposals in relation to employment law and an interesting case on insider dealing.

https://spoti.fi/3VpTXHY

THE MEDIA HUB

Vacant Expression

In the second part of our video on day one rights for agency workers, we explore the obligation on hirers to inform such workers of permanent vacancies which may exist in the organisation. We also discuss the limitations on this right and the lack of equal treatment when a worker has applied for a vacant role.

https://youtu.be/aX6bPFYk3K0

A female director at an investment management company was told her trousers made her look ‘frumpy’

The Claimant was employed as a deputy design director at Greenland Investment. She had relocated from China for the role and in May 2020 approached the CEO of the company to see if it would support her in her application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK. However, the Company provided the Claimant with notice of her termination in July 2020 without following a process. The Claimant subsequently faced issues with her ILR application in August 2020. The Company argued that it had recommended she instruct a solicitor to assist with her application and this was therefore not affected by their decision to terminate. They also stated that the Company had already held conversations prior to August 2020 about potentially making her role redundant due to lack of work and that the Claimant had offered to sign a resignation letter should this situation arise. By October 2020, she was informed her position had been terminated and her employment had ended on 30 September 2020, when her Tier 2 visa had run out. However, workloads improved at the Company, and she was re-engaged as an employee in December 2020, her ILR was granted in January 2021. Her employment eventually came to an end in March after her role was placed at risk of redundancy and she had submitted a formal grievance. In July 2021, the Claimant brought tribunal proceedings for unfair dismissal, direct race and sex discrimination, harassment, victimisation, unlawful deduction from wages and unpaid holiday pay. Among the allegations made against her former employer, the Claimant claimed that the deputy HR director had been spreading lies about her being on furlough or that she was leaving; that the grievance procedure was not properly followed; and that she had not been considered for a bonus. Her claim for harassment was based on the company’s alleged failure to support her in her ILR application but also a comment from the HR director that her trousers made her look like a “frumpy grandmother/auntie”. The tribunal concluded that she had not been subject to less favourable treatment, noting that in many of the instances, the Claimant had raised a hypothetical comparator rather than an actual one. The tribunal did say that the comment about the trousers was unwanted conduct related to sex” because it was inherently linked to gender and “had the purpose or effect of violating the claimant’s dignity,” however was made outside of the time limits and was therefore dismissed.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/664759c7bd01f5ed32793df1/Ms_Y_Zhang_v_1._Greenland__United_Kingdom__Investment_Limited_2._Mr_Ling_Luan_-_2204434-2021.pdf

UPCOMING EVENTS

We have lots of exciting events coming up which we would love for you to be a part of.

To register your interest in any event, please email seminars@chadlaw.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you there!

JOIN US FOR OUR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS SESSIONS

Through our relationship with Tailored Learning Solutions who provide mental health first aid courses in our business, we are now able to announce that we are running multiple courses at our Wakefield office including the following:

Mental Health First Aid (2 day course)

• 26/27th June (FULLY BOOKED)
• 25/26th Sept

Mental Health First Aid – Refresher (1/2 day workshop)

• 24th September

Suicide First Aid – LITE (1/2 day workshop)

• 25th June

Suicide First Aid – Understanding Suicide Intervention (1 day workshop)

• 28th November

Mental Health for Managers Workshop (1 day workshop)

• 14th October

The details of these sessions can be found at the Tailored Learning Solutions website: https://www.tailoredlearningsolutions.co.uk/book-online?category=all-services

If you would like further information and details of the cost for these events, please email carolgledhill@chadlaw.co.uk