This year's Queen's speech on 9 May 2012 included two new pieces of proposed legislation of particular relevance to employers and their advisers:

• The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which aim is to "reduce burdens on business by repealing unnecessary legislation and to limit state inspection of businesses" includes measures to overhaul the Employment Tribunal system to deliver a more efficient and streamlined process for all and encourage the early conciliation of employment disputes.
• The Children and Families Bill aims to introduce a system of shared parental leave so that mothers can transfer more of their maternity leave to the ...

So Mr Seldon has lost his appeal in the Supreme Court.  His claim which began in March 2007, became the battle ground for complex arguments as to the scope of Age Discrimination legislation and in particular the extent to which discriminatory treatment can be justified.  However, this is neither the end of Mr Seldon's claim nor of the uncertainty about the enforceability of compulsory retirement ages, or indeed other age related detriment imposed upon employees. 

The Supreme Court has produced a clear and thorough judgment which reviews all of the existing European case law on justification of age discrimination.  If ...

The Chancellor announced today that the headline rate for corporation tax will reduce to 23% in April with a further cut to 22% by 2014.  No doubt this change is intended to make Britain attractive to investors and to stem to flow of entrepreneurs and multi-national businesses headed for more tax favourable shores.

The other welcome reform confirmed today is the increase in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from one to two years with effect from 6 April this year.  This change reinstates the qualifying period last applicable in 1999 and means that employees starting new employment from April ...

The High Court ruled today that it was unlawful for a local authority to continue a practice of opening its  council meetings with prayers.  The court held that the practice was unlawful on the basis that there was no statutory power in Local Government legislation enabling it to take place. It is perhaps indicative of a wider trend towards avoiding any sense that members of one faith may be advantaged over those of a different faith or none.

From the perspective of employers, the conducting of prayers in the workplace in an official sense might be seen to amount to ...

Following Vince Cable announcing the government's response to its consultation on measures to curb executive pay, Helga Breen, a partner in Lawrence Graham's employment practice, commented:

"Some of the proposals – such as clawing back pay and bonuses and limiting rewards for failure – have been around for some time and have not had any marked impact on pay levels.

"Perhaps the most novel and potentially effective proposal is to give shareholders a binding vote on board room pay. Currently the remuneration committees of listed companies (mostly made up of directors who have a personal interest in the outcome) decide ...

The High Court decides that NewsGroup Newspapers Limited is not responsible for the legal fees of former News of the World editor.

In a case brought by Mr Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World, the High Court examined the extent of an indemnity in a Compromise Agreement from his employer NewsGroup Newspapers Limited, in respect of legal costs and expenses incurred as a result of his having been editor of the News of the World. The High Court found that the indemnity could not cover legal costs in relation to criminal allegations against Mr Coulson.

NewsGroup ...

At a press conference this morning, the Coalition Government Business Secretary, Vince Cable has laid out the government's proposals for what are claimed to be the most significant reforms of the employment law regime in decades.

In his speech Mr Cable set out the desired aim of the proposals: "we want to safeguard workers’ rights, while deregulating to reduce the onerous and unnecessary demands on businesses".

Simultaneously, the government has published its "Response to the Consultation on Resolving Workplace Disputes."

In summary, the main government proposals are:
• an increase from one to two years in the qualifying period for ...

Vince Cable today announced a comprehensive package of employment law reforms, most of which will be welcome news to employers if they are ever implemented.

In addition to extensive changes to the employment tribunal system, the main proposals coming out of the Government's consultation on "Resolving Workplace Disputes" are to increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal increase to two years and to require all claims to be lodged with ACAS for mediation before they can be lodged with the employment tribunal. Further consultations are proposed on the introduction of a right for employers to hold "protected conversations" with their ...

This morning The Times reported that in a recent interview Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Master of the Rolls (the second most senior judicial position in the country), advocated the application of section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 to help redress the gender and racial imbalance at the top of the judiciary.

 

Currently, a tiny minority of judges in our senior courts are women.  Baroness Hale is the only female judge on the Supreme Court and women make up just four of the 37 judges in the Court of Appeal.   Acknowledging the proportionately low number of female judges, Lord ...

Speaking to business leaders last week on ways to promote economic growth, David Cameron indicated that the Government intends to consult on proposals to introduce "protected conversations".  The proposal is designed to give employers the freedom to initiate honest and frank off the record discussions with their employees on issues such as retirement and performance, the contents of which would be inadmissible in tribunal proceedings.

Cameron stated that the effect of introducing 'protected conversations', in his view, would be that "a boss and an employee feel able to sit down together and have a frank conversation – at either’s request" ...