Employment (UK)

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Earlier this month, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) updated its warning notice on the appropriate use of non-disclosure agreements (NDA), creating increased regulatory obligations for lawyers advising on, drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.

The updated warning notice reflects principles set out in existing Acas guidance which applies to anyone involved in settlement agreements. Whilst the warning notice only applies to those regulated by the SRA, i.e., law firms and lawyers (including in-house lawyers), it will be interesting to see whether the changes, which effectively give teeth to certain principles in the guidance as they apply to lawyers, have a wider impact on market practice approach to NDAs in settlement agreements. Failure by lawyers to comply with the SRA warning notice can result in them facing disciplinary action by the SRA for breach of their regulatory obligations.Continue Reading New SRA requirements for dealing with NDAs: Impact on settlement agreements

With the Euros kicking off on 14 June, people all over the UK and Europe are discussing strikers. While most in England are debating whether it should be Ivan Toney or Ollie Watkins as first-choice deputy for Harry Kane, in the employment law world we have been focusing on the strikers at the heart of an important new Supreme Court decision in Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer.

In Mercer, the Supreme Court was asked to consider whether an employee is protected from retaliation if their employer suspends or disciplines them in an effort to deter them from going on strike, and whether or not section 146 TULRCA 1992 really protects employers rather than employees.Continue Reading Striker! Does UK law adequately protect an employee’s right to strike?

To date, the UK government has adopted a “pro innovation” approach to AI regulation, refraining from legislation. This has been with a view to enable the UK to keep pace with rapid developments in AI.  However, this looks set to change with the recent publication of a first draft Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Employment Rights) Bill (“the Bill”), potentially marking the starting point for more formal regulation, particularly in relation to workplace decision making by AI. This blog explores what the Bill proposes by way of regulation, and some practical tips for what employers can be doing now.Continue Reading AI in the workplace – is regulation on its way in the UK?

On 14 May 2024, the government and financial services regulators published their responses to the recommendations made by the Sexism in the City inquiry. Those hoping that the inquiry would quickly lead to solid commitments for reform to tackle sexism in financial services may be somewhat disappointed. While the inquiry certainly created momentum around the discussion, the current government does not intend to push forward legislative changes, and the two regulators (the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)) are still deep in review of their policy direction, although they have set some expectations about their priorities.

In this blog, we look at the background to the Sexism in the City inquiry, the current status in respect of the inquiry’s recommendations, and where this leaves financial services organisations.

What is the Sexism in the City inquiry?

Launched in July 2023, the House of Commons Treasury Committee’s inquiry was intended as a follow up to the Women in Finance inquiry from 2017. The 2023 inquiry set out to explore progress on issues affecting women in financial services, including the removal of barriers to entry and progression to successful careers, representation at board level, pay gaps, and misogyny and harassment. 

After months of reviewing written evidence, hearing oral evidence and holding focus groups, the Committee published its report on Sexism in the City on 5 March 2024. While the report noted some improvement for women in financial services since the 2017 inquiry, particularly on female representation in senior roles, it also expressed disappointment at the lack of progress on improving instances of non-financial misconduct (e.g. sexual harassment and bullying) against women and the generally poor culture continuing to cause challenges for women in the industry. The inquiry made a number of recommendations to government, and the two regulators, to accelerate change.

How have the government and regulators responded to the inquiry’s recommendations?

Two months after the Committee’s report, the response from HM Treasury, the FCA and PRA has been published. Whilst there is a broad agreement with the Committee’s comments and sentiments about the need for improvement, and various explanations about what steps have already been taken or are currently ongoing, the government and regulators largely stopped short of committing to prompt and significant changes in line with the recommendations.  Continue Reading What next for women in financial services? The government and regulators respond to recommendations from the Sexism in the City inquiry

Paternity leave has not been forgotten in the swathe of family related legislative changes taking effect in April 2024. However, anyone hoping for significant changes will be disappointed. The changes are limited to improving flexibility for eligible employees wanting to take the existing right to two weeks of statutory paternity leave. There is no increase…

The practice of fire and rehire has hit the headlines and been the topic of political debate in recent years. While the current UK government has rejected calls to outlaw entirely the practice, in early 2022 it committed to introducing a statutory code of practice to set out expected standards of behaviour and best practice.

Our blog from 13 February 2023 considered the draft code as the consultation was launched. We now provide an update on the content of the new Code and explores some challenges and tips for employers faced with navigating a change of terms and conditions once the Code comes into force, including the punitive sanctions for non-compliance, as well as a look ahead to what might change if we have a change to a Labour party government in the next 12 months.Continue Reading Developments with the UK’s ‘fire and rehire’ clampdown: what’s next?

After years of talk about improving the legal framework to promote more flexibility in the modern working environment, the UK is now on the cusp of changes to its statutory flexible working regime taking effect. Our blog post from August 2023 provides a background to reform and the changes as initially announced. We now provide an update on what is changing and when, and provide our top tips for employers preparing for and managing flexible working requests beginning in April 2024.

What are the current flexible working rules in the UK?

Under current statutory rules, employees with 26 weeks of continuous service have the right to request flexible working, typically seeking changes to their days, hours, pattern or place of work. The request must be made in writing and explain what impact the change would have on the employer and how this can be dealt with. Only one request can be made within a 12-month period, and employers should deal with the request within three months. There is no obligation on employers to accept a request for flexible working but must consider requests reasonably and only reject a request on the basis of one or more prescribed statutory grounds (such as the burden of additional costs, the detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand or performance/quality and an inability to reorganise work among existing staff).Continue Reading Flexible working reform in the UK – Are you ready for April?

The principle of equal pay for equal work has been a keystone in German as well as European law for many years, and it is no secret that the reality in Germany, in particular with regards to the pay gap between men and women, is very different.

The Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) has been tracking the difference in pay between women and men in Germany since 2006. For 2023, they report that the average gross hourly earnings of women (EUR 20.84) were EUR 4.46 lower than those of men (EUR 25.30), resulting in an average of 18% less earnings per hour (which is the so called “unadjusted gender pay gap”). The so called “adjusted pay gap” takes into account that women work more often than men in sectors, occupations and at job levels where pay is lower or often has more part-time roles. According to the adjusted pay gap, female employees earned on average 6% less per hour than men in 2022, even with comparable jobs, qualifications and employment histories. Over the entire observation period from 2006 to 2022, women earned significantly less per hour worked on average than men. Over the past 16 years, the gender pay gap has narrowed down from 23% in 2006 to 18% in 2022 (unadjusted).Continue Reading Equal pay – the end of individual salary negotiations in Germany?

Employers embarking on redundancy or restructuring exercises need to be aware of significant changes from 6 April 2024 to UK redundancy rules which give priority protection to employees on maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (SPL). The changes from 6 April mean that the period of priority protection will extend to 18 months and will also apply to pregnant employees from the day they notify their employer of their pregnancy. This is important because a failure to give priority protection can result in a redundancy dismissal being both automatically unfair and deemed discriminatory.

This blog explains the upcoming changes and considers issues arising and how employers can manage the impact. It also looks at the practical issues arising from a larger number of employees being given priority status.Continue Reading UK redundancy protection – significant changes from April 2024

The new year is a good opportunity for employers to review and refresh HR policies and procedures. One change that employers should be aware of, which came into effect at the end of October 2023, relates to when prison sentences become spent and therefore no longer need to be declared to prospective employers, which will have a knock-on effect for recruitment processes and paperwork.

The changes to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 reduce the time people with certain criminal convictions are required to declare them to potential employers after serving their sentence. While these changes have been welcomed by thousands of ex-offenders and have been hailed by the government as removing a significant barrier to offenders rebuilding their lives, it will limit what employers can ascertain about a candidate’s past.Continue Reading Changes to when convictions become spent in the UK