Employment & HR

An employee who was labelled “a pensioner” because of his age and placed “in the relegation zone” has been awarded £340,000 in compensation by the tribunal. These are both no-nos, but where else did the employer go wrong?

New Regulations. Following Brexit, certain EU-derived discrimination laws were due to be automatically removed at the end of 2023. To prevent this happening, the government has introduced the Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023 which are due to come into force on 1 January 2024. Amongst other things, these Regulations: confirm that discrimination on the grounds of breastfeeding falls under the protected characteristic of sex; grant individuals the right to claim indirect discrimination by association, i.e. where a person suffers less favourable treatment because they know a person with a protected characteristic and extends direct discrimination protection to cover statements made about not recruiting people with certain protected characteristic, e.g. age or race. ...

You’re looking at providing some training for your workforce. However, one of your employees is nearing 66 and you suspect that they might retire soon. Can you exclude this employee from your training plans?

One of your employees has left your employment unexpectedly. This might be due to their resignation or a dismissal. Why should you always put out an internal announcement about such a departure?

Apparently, 2.5 million older employees are delaying their retirement plans due to the cost of living crisis. How can you determine your older employees’ retirement plans without inviting an age discrimination claim?