Ms Preston was ordained a Methodist Minister. As a Minister, Ms Preston received a salary, accommodation, holiday pay, sick pay & membership of a pension scheme and she was subject to annual appraisals and disciplinary procedures.

In 2009, Mr Preston resigned and brought an unfair dismissal claim against the President of the Methodist conference. The tribunal held that Ms Preston was not an employee and that it did not have justification to hear her claim. Only employees can bring unfair dismissal claims. Ms Preston appealed.

The Supreme Court by a majority decided that to determine the employment status of a minister of religion it is necessary to examine the rules and practices of the particular church and any special arrangements made with the particular minister. Whether an arrangement was a legally binding contract depended on whether the parties intended the benefits and burdens of the ministry to be the subject of a legally binding agreement between them.

On applying that approach to the facts of this case, the majority concluded that ministry was a vocation and that a minister’s rights and duties did not arise from a church contract.

This case will be of particular interest to ministers of any denomination.

For more information, please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment, Solicitors.

Of interest to Employment Lawyers are:

• The National Insurance Bill. The government plans to make changes to national insurance contributions, including offering businesses an ‘employment’ allowance of £2,000 to reduce their national insurance contributions. The Bill will also extend the General Anti-Abuse Rule to National Insurance and the Bill contains measures to prevent the use of abusive tax schemes which help people avoid paying the proper amount of National Insurance. The Bill also removes the presumption of self-employment for limited liability partnerships, which currently allows partners of an LLP to pay self-employed rates of National Insurance contributions which are lower than those which apply to employees.
• Deregulation Bill. The Deregulation Bill seeks to reduce or remove burdens on civil society, public bodies, the tax payer and individuals by repealing legislation that is no longer of practical use. It will remove the power for employment tribunals to make wider recommendations where a successful discrimination claim has been brought. The Bill will also exempt from health and safety laws those who are self-employed and whose activities pose no risk or harm to others.
• Immigration Bill. The Bill will allow harsh action against businesses that use illegal labour.

For more information on this, please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

]]> http://www.justemployment.com/2013/05/13/employment-law-implications-of-the-queens-speech-2013/feed/ 0 http://www.justemployment.com/2013/04/22/national-minimum-wage-increases-for-october-2013/ http://www.justemployment.com/2013/04/22/national-minimum-wage-increases-for-october-2013/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:04:31 +0000 Clare McDairmant http://www.justemployment.com/?p=2251 Continue reading →]]> The government has announced the national minimum wage rates which will take effect on 1 October 2013.

The new rates are as follows:

• The standard adult rate (for workers aged 21 and over) will rise to £6.31 an hour (up 12p from £6.19).
• The development rate (for workers aged between 18 and 20) will rise to £5.03 an hour (up 5p from £4.98).
• The young workers rate (for workers aged under 18 but above the compulsory school age who are not apprentices) will rise to £3.72 an hour (up 4p from £3.68).
• The rate for apprentices will rise to £2.68 an hour (up 4p from £2.65).
• The accommodation offset will rise to £4.91 a day (up 9p from £4.82).

For more information on this please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

]]> http://www.justemployment.com/2013/04/22/national-minimum-wage-increases-for-october-2013/feed/ 0 http://www.justemployment.com/2013/04/10/key-changes-in-employment-law-taking-place-in-april-2013/ http://www.justemployment.com/2013/04/10/key-changes-in-employment-law-taking-place-in-april-2013/#comments Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:19:36 +0000 Clare McDairmant http://www.justemployment.com/?p=2245 Continue reading →]]> There are a number of changes in employment law that will take place this month.

• The collective redundancy consultation period where more than 100 employees are affected will be halved to 45 days from 6 April.
• The prescribed weekly rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will rise to £136.78 from 7 April. The rate of statutory sick pay will be £86.70 from 6 April. Income tax personal allowance for under -65s will increase on 6 April, while the basic rate band will decrease.
• Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will come into force on 1 April. Among other things, it will enable the use of damages based agreements in most civil litigation.

For more information on this please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

I will now discuss the key reforms to take place from autumn 2013 and beyond.

Autumn 2013:

• Reform of TUPE 2006:  The Government has recently published a Consultation on reforms to the Transfer of Undertakings (protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). The Consultation closes in early April 2013, with the Government’s response expected in due course. The Consultation includes proposals to remove service provision changes (the situation where part of a business is outsourced to a contractor) from the scope of the Regulations. The changes are expected to be implemented from October 2013.
• Employee Shareholder Status: The new employee shareholder status will be implemented in autumn 2013, rather than April 2013 as previously expected. Under the proposals, employees will be able to obtain shares in their employer in return for giving up some of their employment rights. The first £50,000 worth of shares (valued at acquisition) will be free from capital gains tax on disposal.

Spring 2014:

• Tribunal Claims: Acas early conciliation: In January 2013, the government launched a consultation into creating a new early consultation process for all Employment Tribunal claims. Under the proposed early consultation process it will be a requirement for most prospective claimants to contact Acas with the details of their case before a tribunal claim can be lodged. This would then allow Acas to conciliate on the matter, and hopefully resolve it, without the need for a tribunal claim to be raised. It is expected that early conciliation would be introduced in April 2014.
• Tribunal Claims: Penalties for Losing Respondents: Tribunals are to be given the power to impose a financial penalty on employers who lose at tribunal. The penalty is 50% of any financial award, with a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £5,000, reduced by 50% if paid within 21 days.
• Right to request flexible working: The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees with 26 weeks’ service, rather than just those employees who qualify as parents or carers.
• Workplace sickness absence: The government announced the introduction of a new Health and Work Advisory and Assessment Service. The new Service will be introduced in 2014 and will provide free occupational health assessment of any employee who is off sick from work for four weeks or more.

2015:

• Shared Parental Leave: The Children and Families Bill 2013, which was introduced into Parliament, will establish the legislative framework to enable families to divide leave between parents in order to look after children in their first year.

For more information on the changes, please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

The government has just published a report, ‘Employment Law 2013: progress on reform’, setting out what changes have been made to date through the Employment Law Review and a timetable for the next phase of reforms.

The key measures expected in spring and summer 2013 are detailed below.

Spring 2013:

• Reforms to collective redundancy will be implemented. The 90 day consultation requirement for redundancies involving 100 or more employees is to be reduced to 45 days in April 2013.
• Consolidation of national minimum wage. The government will be simplifying the National Minimum Wage rules and intend to produce a single set of consolidated National Minimum Wage Regulations by April 2013, merging the current 17 sets of regulations.

Summer 2013:

• New Employment Tribunal Fees. The government is aiming to implement the Employment Tribunal Fees scheme in the summer of 2013, in terms of which an initial issue fee is to be paid when submitting a claim to a tribunal or an appeal to the EAT, followed by a subsequent hearing fee.
• Compensatory award cap. The unfair dismissal compensatory award will be capped at the lower of one year’s pay and the existing limit.
• Make settlement agreements easier to use. The aim is to try and reduce the number of Employment Tribunal Claims along with the cost and potential distress that accompany them.
• Whistleblowing. The government intends to amend the ERA 1996 so that workers cannot bring a whistleblowing case relating to a breach of their own contract that is not in the public interest.

For more information on this, please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

The changes in the Order are:

• To reduce the minimum consultation period required, in cases of collective redundancy, involving 100 or more employees, from 90 days to 45 days.
• Fixed-term contracts, which have reached their natural end point, will also be excluded from any requirement to consult.

As announced in December, the government also intends to publish new Acas guidance on other aspects of collective redundancy consultation. The changes and accompanying Acas guidance are intended to come into effect on 6 April 2013.

For more information on this, please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

The EAT have recently said No. In this case (Bancroft v Interserve) the Respondent had a contract with the Home Office to provide catering to a bail hostel. Under the terms of the contract the Home Office could ask the catering company to remove any of its staff whose “admission would be undesirable” without having to give reasons. This they duly did when the Claimant in this case and the Manager of the hostel fell out. The Claimant was then dismissed without any enquiry into the justification of the request from the Home Office. Although his claim failed in the Employment Tribunal he succeeded in the EAT. The EAT found that the employer must consider whether there will be an injustice to the employee and the extent of that injustice before making a decision to dismiss. In particular the EAT found that the Employment Tribunal had not properly enquired whether the Respondent had done “everything they could to mitigate the injustice caused by the third party’s request that the Claimant no longer work on their premises”. The case was remitted back to the Employment Tribunal to be heard again.

Rachel O’Connell, Director, Just Employment Solicitors. 

The proposed amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill will mean that individuals, who make the difficult decision to blow the whistle against their employer, will have protection from instances of bullying or harassment that may come from their co-workers.

The current law only offers workers with protection from harassment or bullying by their employers.

The amendment will:

• Introduce a provision which treats detrimental acts of one co-worker towards another who has blown the whistle, as being done by the employer and therefore makes the employer responsible; and
• Provide a defence for an employer who is able to show that they took all reasonable steps to prevent the detrimental treatment of a co-worker towards another who blew the whistle.

For further information on this please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.

The Bill will allow partners of pregnant women and fathers of expected children unpaid time off to attend ante-natal appointments and prospective adoptive parents time off to attend adoption meetings. It will also extend the right to request flexible working arrangements to all employees and repeal the statutory procedure for considering such requests.

For more information on this please contact us on 01483 303636.

Clare McDairmant, Solicitor, Just Employment Solicitors.