Monday Morning Dispatch - 15 July 2024

The Media Hub

In this week’s MMD we round up the major employment law and regulatory changes following the general election.

In the media hub Daniel has prepared a video on historical overpayment of wages.

Finally, we have prepared a summary of a case involving discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity.

THE MMD PODCAST

Episode 35: Political Round Up

In this week’s episode Sam and Nils provide a political round up of the new Government’s proposals affecting Employment and Regulatory Law and discuss the challenges these may bring.

https://spoti.fi/4bLgKD3

THE MEDIA HUB

One for the history books

In this video, we explore the options open to an employer to recover a historical overpayment of wages. We analyse the difference between an employer who has a contractual right to make deductions and one who does not, picking up on the requirement to exercise rights in a fair and reasonable way.

https://youtu.be/wC3RjuKkS6M

In the News

Shareholder who called himself Kalifa (ruler in Arabic) sent laughing emojis to pregnant HR exec after being made redundant.

AHRO Scientific Publishing is a Glasgow-based publisher. Ms Rezvani, the claimant, who began working at the firm in February 2023, was one of many employees made redundant without notice in September 2023. AHRO was managed by majority shareholder Dr A Yaro, who was not under directorship at the firm, however, referred to himself as director-general as well as ‘Kalifa’, which means ruler, or leader, in Arabic. In August, Yaro told Rezvani he intended to appoint directors and offered the role to her; Rezvani responded telling Yaro that she did not consider herself suitable for the role and that she was pregnant. On 9 September of that year, Yaro asked Rezvani to distribute the message that “a decision has been taken that staffs are made redundant for the next six weeks”. Rezvani assumed she was still employed, an interpretation which the employment tribunal agreed with. On 13 September, Rezvani asked Yaro for her payslips, and Yaro also remarked that the company was not in a position to pay the accountant. On 22 September when Yaro sent a WhatsApp message requesting her to return her office key. Rezvani replied that she was still an employee and that she would like to meet the new management; Yaro replied saying that the management would not be meeting any staff individually and refused to pass on her number to them. It was at this point when Rezvani said she would then wait until new management got in touch with her directly to get the key, to which Yaro responded with a row of seven laughing emojis. At this point, Rezvani was under the impression that she was no longer employed and told the tribunal that the emojis left her feeling hopeless that the company would contact her and that the communication affairs between 9 and 22 September caused confusion and stress. As she was now visibly pregnant, she was particularly stressed as she feared this would compromise her chance of applying for a new role. The tribunal decided that Yaro “scoffed” at Rezvani when he sent the laughing emojis, and that his correspondence was “steeped in ambiguity”. Employment Judge Lesley Murphy stated it was apparent that Yaro had a change in his attitude towards retaining her after she informed him of her pregnancy. The Glasgow employment tribunal ordered that the company pay Rezvani £21,681.99 in form of compensation including awards for a number of wrongdoings.

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)