With less than a week to go until the next Budget, on 3rd March 2021, speculation is rife as to what Chancellor Rishi Sunak may announce. With the pandemic affecting the country for more than a year, there are likely to be numerous Covid-related support measures announced.

Many employers will not have prioritised training over the last few months, but a decision from the Employment Appeal Tribunal highlights the risks of falling behind.

As the vaccination effort gathers pace, many employers are considering the knotty question of whether they can require unwilling employees to be vaccinated (or refuse to recruit the unvaccinated). This isn’t a simple issue.

There is no specific legal definition of a ‘zero hours contract’ but it is generally understood to mean an arrangement under which the worker has no set minimum hours and is only paid for hours actually worked. Typically the worker does not have to accept any work offered to him or her, but must carry out the work personally if they do.

If you employ workers from overseas, or you plan to in the future, you will need to understand the changes to the immigration system coming into play from January 1st, 2021.

Stephen Jennings, Head of Tozers’ Employment Team, has seen an increase in requests for advice in relation to 4 day working weeks, with firms of all sizes, including multinational businesses, exploring the concept. For example Unilever is the latest organisation to take up the 4 day working week concept.

Even though the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme runs until to 31 October, many employers are having to make difficult decisions about the future of their businesses which can include making redundancies. Now is the time to make these difficult decisions, whilst furlough funding is still available from the government which can be used towards notice periods.

The number of employees working from home has increased significantly following government advice to avoid unnecessary travel and to encourage employees to work from home where possible.

To put it simply, IR35 legislation is designed to close a tax loophole where individuals avoid paying employee income tax and national insurance by using a ‘middleman’ correctly known as an intermediary, and paying themselves dividends.

There has been much case law over recent years about when on call workers are entitled to be paid. The Scottish EAT has now added to the vast amount of case law on the matter, by hearing the case of; Truslove and another v Scottish Ambulance Service. Truslove confirms the current position, which is that where a worker is required to remain at the workplace and available for work with a view to providing their services at some point, this will amount to working-time and not a rest period. This is the case even if the worker is allowed to sleep and so the worker is entitled to be paid for their time.

A new Court of Appeal decision highlights the unusual case of an employee who successfully brought a disability discrimination claim even though she is not, and is not likely ever to be, disabled.

You may remember that we reported on the case Agoreyo v London Borough of Lambeth where the High Court held that the suspension of a teacher to allow for a misconduct investigation was not a neutral act and amounted to a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. This case was appealed to the Court of Appeal which has overturned the decision.