Employment Law Watch : Employment & Labor Lawyer & Attorney : Reed Smith Law Firm

In Oakland v Wellswood (Yorkshire) Ltd, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) decided that an employee of a business in administration was unable to have the protection afforded to employees under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) when the business in which he was employed was transferred and continued as a going concern with the transferee. The decision is important news for administrators and purchasers of businesses in administration because it contradicts current Government guidance on this issue.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The UK’s ability to opt out of the 48 hour working week is now in peril following the European Parliament vote this week to have it scrapped. The UK’s opt out of this element of the Working Time Directive (in other words employees in the UK being able to agree to opt out of the limit) was agreed in the 1990s but has been under threat now for a number of years. The vote will come as a great disappointment to UK businesses bearing in mind that earlier this year the UK agreed to the Temporary Agency Directive provided it could keep the Working Time Directive opt out. Keeping the opt out was, however, dependent on being accompanied by a number of conditions which guarantee the protection of health and safety of workers. The European Parliament was not convinced that keeping the opt out does not undermine health and safety. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

This post was written by James A. Burns, Jr. and Vanessa K. Eisenmann.

Earlier this year, we reported that Congress was considering a large number of bills that would have imposed significant new burdens on how employers deal with employees. Two such bills—one outlawing genetic discrimination in employment and the other making significant changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act—were passed and signed into law. Considering the new political landscape, it is reasonable to assume that several of the others will be reintroduced in the 111^th Congress, and that many of those bills will become law next year. The following previews major changes in employment legislation (in addition to the Employee Free Choice Act discussed in a separate Alert) that employers might expect to see in 2009.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link