Advice: Employment law news October

As a leading employment solicitor helping people with employment problems in Preston, Blackpool, Lancashire and across the UK, we provide a regular employment law newsletter which includes a regular review of what is happening in the ever changing field of employment law. Here is our latest edition.

October 2010

It’s been a busy month for lawyers, the government and observers alike.

Changes from 1st October 2010

The Equality Act 2010
The first provisions of the long awaited Equality Act 2010 came into force at the beginning of this month.  The Equality Act is a new piece of legislation that has tried to bring together and harmonise discrimination law in England and Wales.  The new Act supersedes all previous discrimination legislation and it covers all aspects of discrimination such as sex, disability, age, race etc.

New minimum wage rates
There were also new minimum wage rates introduced at the start of the month.  The following minimum wage rates now apply:-
For workers aged 21 or over – £5.93  (2009 rate – £5.80)
For workers between the ages of 18 and 20 – £4.92 (2009 rate – £4.83)
For workers between the age of 16 and 17 – £3.64 (2009 rate – £3.57)
For apprentices under 19 or over the age of 19 but in their first year as an apprentice – £2.50

The government’s spending review 2010

The Chancellor, George Osbourne announced the government’s 4 year spending plan on 20th October 2010.  A number of key announcements were made, and here are just a few:-

• The plan to raise the state retirement age from 65 to 66 by 2020;
• The projection that approximately 490,000 public sector jobs are likely to be lost as a result of the spending cuts;
• Reform of public sector pensions intended to save £1.8 billion by 2015;

And finally – an interesting case on references

The  Employment Appeals Tribunal handed down their decision in the case of Bullimore v Pothecary Witham Weld Solicitors [UKEAT/0189/10/JOJ] late last month.  This case involved a Solicitor who had settled a claim against her ex-employers for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.  Upon finding a new job, the claimant requested a reference from her ex-employers.  The reference she received from her ex-employers was found to be “damaging” and “negative” by the tribunal as it provided detail of the claimant bringing a claim against the firm and making comments about her apparently poor relationship with her colleagues and her “[inflexibility] as to her opinions”.  The job that the claimant was initially offered with her new firm was then withdrawn.

The tribunal in the first instance found that the reference provided for the claimant was discriminatory and was influenced by the claim that the claimant had previously brought against them.  However the first instance tribunal were reluctant to order that any loss of earnings should be paid by the claimant’s ex-employers.  The EAT overturned this decision and concluded that the reference provider could be ordered to pay compensation for a future loss of earnings suffered by the claimant and their liability in this regard should apportioned with the liability of the claimant’s new firm who withdrew their job offer after receiving the discriminatory reference.

http://www.employmentappeals.gov.uk/Public/Upload/10_0189rjfhMSJOJREVISED.doc