Equality, diversity and human rights
The Court of Appeal has been making the headlines after it found in Higgs v Farmor's School and others that a Christian school assistant's dismissal for social media posts expressing opposition to the ideas of transgenderism, gender fluidity and same-sex marriage was discriminatory. But did the headlines capture the essence of the court's ruling?
To help HR leaders develop their strategies to tackle the practical and cultural challenges of recent and upcoming additions to anti-harassment legislation, Brightmine and HR Grapevine convened a roundtable discussion. During the event, industry professionals shared the key issues they currently encounter in dealing with workplace harassment.
While the introduction of neonatal care leave and pay is the key change for HR professionals to get to grips with, there are other employment law changes in April 2025. These include increases to the national minimum wage rates; a rise in statutory redundancy pay; and the uprating of statutory sick pay and family-related pay.
Following significant changes in autumn 2024, the Government's Employment Rights Bill now promises further reforms to the harassment laws, including the introduction of explicit new third-party harassment liability. Employment judge Tina Elliott looks at the history of third-party harassment law, the current position and the changes on the horizon.
Motherhood is at the heart of a lot of policies in the contemporary workplace, where the narrative often focuses around an ideal that everyone is or wants to be a mother. This can be incredibly excluding for non-mothers. It's great to provide policies and benefits that support parents, says Caroline Green, but how can you supplement your support for everyone else?
In 2025, HR professionals face the unique challenge of dealing with business-as-usual employment law changes, such as increases in statutory maternity, paternity and sick pay, while also beginning their preparations in earnest for the looming Employment Rights Bill. We look at what HR needs to do to meet its employment law obligations and prepare for the coming year
The Employment Rights Bill packs 28 imposing employment law reforms into its 158 pages. While HR professionals await the substantive details needed to flesh out the Bill, we outline the key policies that you will need to update and an overview of what those updates might involve.
In the first of a new series delving into the details of the Employment Rights Bill, we look at the plan to require large employers to publish an action plan on the steps that they are taking to address the gender pay gap and support employees going through the menopause.
Although the formal Bill is yet to be published, the Government has outlined plans to require organisations with 250 and more employees to report their ethnicity and disability pay data. To prepare HR leaders for this change, Brightmine and HR Grapevine convened a roundtable discussion to address the practical and cultural challenges of expanded pay gap reporting.
After months of waiting, the Government has finally published the first draft of its wide-ranging Employment Rights Bill, which will make radical changes to employment law in the next few years. Now that the Employment Rights Bill has begun its progress through Parliament, we highlight the key points from the first draft for HR professionals.
Commentary and insights: HR and legal information and guidance relating to equality, diversity and human rights.