Case notes: latest law reports

Summaries of case law reports added to HR & Compliance Centre in the past week.

  • Compensation for failure to consult on transfer   In Sweetin v Coral Racing EATS/0039/05, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that awards of compensation for a failure to inform and consult about staff transfers should be penal and not compensatory. (IRS Employment Review)

  • Entire duty on call found to be 'working time'  In MacCartney v Oversley House Management [2006] All ER (D) 246 (Jan) EAT the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that an employee who was required to remain on call at or close to her place of work was 'working' even if her employer provided her with a home at her place of work. (IRS Employment Review)

  • Financial information about suitable employment  In Fisher v Hoopoe Finance Ltd EAT/0043/05, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that good industrial practice requires an employer to inform an employee who is to be made redundant of the financial details of any suitable alternative roles available. (IRS Employment Review)

  • Employees unfairly dismissed for refusing to accept unreasonable covenants  In Willow Oak Developments Ltd t/a Windsor Recruitment v Silverwood and others [2006] IRLR 28 EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that employees were unfairly dismissed when they refused to sign a new contract containing unreasonably wide covenants in restraint of trade. (IRS Employment Review)

  • Church minister was employee for sex discrimination purposes   In Percy v Church of Scotland Board of National Mission [2006] IRLR 195 HL, the House of Lords held that a church minister who had entered into a contract personally to execute work or labour was an 'employee' for the purposes of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. (IRS Employment Review)

  • Extent of participation in illegal contracts not considered  In Church and another v Bakersfield Entertainment Ltd [2006] All ER (D) 167 (Mar) EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the employment tribunal had erred in holding that the claimants' contracts were not illegal when they had agreed to a scheme whereby half their salary was paid to fictitious service providers and not declared for tax and national insurance purposes. (IRS Employment Review)

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