Welcome to Employment Edit, our pick of the key employment law developments from the last couple of weeks:
- Restrictive covenants – A recent High Court decision serves as a reminder that the enforceability of restrictive covenants is assessed as at the date they are entered into and not when you later try to enforce them. In this case, a restriction that was held to unenforceable when entered into given the employee's junior role at the time, remained unenforceable on his departure, despite his having worked his way up to a senior position with access to key business contacts and confidential information. As part of any promotion or role change, employers should, as a matter of course, review the suitability of any existing covenants and consider if new or varied covenants are required (Bartholomews Agri Food Ltd v Thornton). It is also important to address whether specific consideration will be needed if you want new or varied employee restraints to be valid (Re-Use Collections Ltd v Sendall).
- Immigration skills charge – to incentivise the training of British workers, the government plans to introduce a new charge, from April 2017, requiring employers to pay £1,000 a year for each migrant they employ in skilled areas.
- Apprentices and young workers – Acas has published a new guide to help employers to manage and support apprentices and young workers. In addition, BIS has published guidance on how the Apprenticeship Levy will work.
- Sex discrimination – Acas have also published new guidance for employers and employees on how to prevent sex discrimination in the workplace.
- National minimum wage and living wage – BIS have published a new booklet (PDF) on how to calculate the minimum wage, what counts as pay, what hours need to be counted, and how the minimum wage is enforced.
If you would like more information, or specific advice, please contact Roger Bull, or get in touch with your usual Burges Salmon contact.