Welcome to Employment Edit, our pick of the key employment law developments from the last couple of weeks:
- TUPE - an employee who was on long term sick leave, receiving PHI and had no prospect of returning to work has been held by the EAT as not being assigned to a particular grouping and so he did not transfer under TUPE on a service provision change. BT Managed Services Ltd v Edwards.
- Working time - for peripatetic workers with no fixed place of work, the travel time from leaving home in the morning to their first appointment and the final journey from their last appointment to home should both be counted as working time for the purposes of the Working Time Directive. This is the determination of the ECJ in Federación de Servicios Privados del Sindicato Comisiones Obreras v Tyco Integrated Security SL, which confirms the conclusion reached by the Advocate General.
- Agency workers – Although agency workers are entitled to be informed of vacancies at an end user, the EAT has confirmed that it does not entitle the agency worker to be afforded equal status with comparable permanent employees when being considered for a vacancy. Coles v Ministry of Defence.
- Employment tribunal fees – Unison's appeal against the High Court's dismissal of its challenge to the introduction of fees in employment tribunals has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal, mainly on the basis of lack of evidence. However, this will not be the last we hear because the government is conducting a review of employment tribunal fees and Unison has applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
- Discrimination –Acas has published a number of new guides on equality and discrimination and on recruitment and induction.
If you would like more information, or specific advice, please contact Roger Bull, or get in touch with your usual Burges Salmon contact.