HR Articles

In Personnel Today, Melanie Pimenta, Senior Solicitor at Clarkslegal, discusses ‘positive action’ and what it means for employers.

The UK Government has recently rejected calls for the menopause to be made a 'protected characteristic' and for a large-scale pilot of menopause leave.

In People Management magazine, Deborah Scales, Associate at Clarkslegal LLP, comments on a recent tribunal ruling in which a factory supervisor who handed in her keys in an “anxious state” and said “I’m done” did not resign and was unfairly dismissed.

A family member of a ‘qualifying’ EEA national (including the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) must apply for an EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Family Permit to join their EEA family member in the UK. The EUSS Family Permit is valid for 6 months, and once in the UK, the family member must apply for status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Mental health first aid bill (MHFA) presented to parliament may not become law, but HR would likely welcome the change. Giving Mental Health First Aid and Physical First Aid recognition in the eyes of the law would be an important demonstration of employers taking account of their peoples’ physical and mental health. 

In recent years, there has been a very significant movement from office-based to remote working, driven initially by the increasing attraction as an employee retention tool of flexible working and, of course, accelerated in a truly unforeseeable way by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year we witnessed various cases and important decisions affecting the employment legal landscape, including, Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Limited (the first COVID-19-related unfair dismissal case to go to the Court of Appeal); Harpur Trust v Brazel (the Supreme Court case relating to holiday pay for part-time workers); and Tesco Stores Limited v USDAW and Ors (relating to firing and rehiring practices), to name a few.

2022 was quite the tumultuous year, with the UK and many in the wider world facing food and fuel shortages, political change, extreme weather, significant inflation, mass redundancies and widespread industrial action at levels not seen for a considerable amount of time.

The controversial practice of ‘quiet quitting’ in the workplace hit the headlines last year, with ‘loud quitting’ being the latest trend, but what do these mean, and will they have long-lasting effects?

On the heels of another year of major changes within the UK immigration system, we anticipate yet even more change in 2023. This is in large part due to the Home Office’s overarching plan to fully digitise the UK immigration system by the end of 2024.