HR Articles

The controversial practice of ‘quiet quitting’ in the workplace has recently hit the headlines, but what does it mean, and will it have long-lasting effects? 

Employers seeking to make changes to employees’ contracts usually do so in one of three ways.

In the recent case of Tesco Stores Ltd v USDAW and ors, the Court of Appeal has allowed Tesco’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to grant an injunction restraining it from firing and rehiring employees in order to remove a ‘permanent’ contractual entitlement to enhanced pay.

Fire and rehire involves terminating an employee’s existing employment contract and offering to rehire them on new terms, usually as a last resort, where an employer cannot make the proposed changes using existing powers in the employee’s contract and the employee has not given their agreement to the changes. 

Restrictive covenants in employment contracts usually try to prevent an employee acting in a certain way after they have left employment. The most common are those preventing the employee from working in a competing business (non-compete) or soliciting clients and/or staff (non-solicitation). 

Employees are now gradually returning to the office, following months of being ordered to work from home. In doing so, a debate has started over whether those who remain at home should be paid the same as their commuting colleagues.

Russell Dann comments in Personal Today on the omission of the long-awaited Employment Bill in this year’s Queen’s Speech.

Following a Commons debate on 27 April 2021, the Government are considering their response to an ACAS report on the use of a ‘fire and rehire’ approach by employers.

On 6 April 2020, the law relating to employment contracts changed. It now requires further information to be included in contracts and for this to be given to all employees AND workers no later than day one of work.

You may have seen our previous blog on rolling out vaccination programmes for employees. The debate on whether the workforce should be vaccinated continues at a pace in the press, where we have seen Barchester Healthcare join Pimlico Plumbers in considering all new recruits having to be vaccinated as a requirement of the role.

We blogged previously on the changes coming in April 2020 to statements of employment particulars.