Final Claims for Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, which amends the Employment Rights Act 1996, was previously scheduled to come fully into force on 1 July 2024, but this has now been delayed until 1 October. The Act requires employers to pass on all tips and service charges to workers without any deduction, except in very limited circumstances (for example, deduction of Income Tax). Under the Act, employers must also:ensure that tips are distributed in a fair and transparent manner when the…

A person who performs a voluntary role may nonetheless meet the definition of a ‘worker’ under Section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, depending on the individual circumstances. Recently, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that a man who volunteered for the Coastguard Rescue Service (CRS) was a worker when performing activities for which he was entitled to claim payment. The man had held voluntary roles within the CRS since 1985. After he was invited to a disciplinary hearing,…

The subject matter of Employment Tribunal (ET) cases can be highly sensitive, and those involved are often keen to maintain their anonymity. However, as was shown by a case in which controversial religious issues took centre stage, the open justice principle will usually require them to be identified by name. The case concerned a senior electrical engineer who was of Tamil origin and came from a low Hindu caste. In ET proceedings he asserted, amongst other things, that his line manager, a high…