The government has announced the repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, aiming to get public services back on track and strengthen the rights of working people. The repeal removes a Draconian law (that only sought to widen the inequality of bargaining power in the employment relationship) is a welcome move to hand […]
During UNISON’s Year of Disabled members UNISON Birmingham Branch is celebrating Disability History month and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by running the following training courses around disability. These will be hybrid sessions held in the Branch Office with the option to join online via ZOOM. The following sessions will be available: Disability […]
Social care workers in England, irrespective of where they work, no longer face a legal requirement to be vaccinated. If social care employers persist with forcing members to be vaccinated, please seek legal advice. Back in November 2021 the Westminster Government passed a law requiring anyone working in a care home, including people who visited […]
UNISON has worked with the social worker regulator Social Work England (SWE) to update SWE’s fitness to practise referral guidance for employers and social workers. The updated guides are in links below. There is improved synergy and read-across between the two guidance documents. UNISON views these documents as ‘two faces of the same coin’. There should […]
UNISON is working proactively with the UK governments and other bodies to keep you safe at work. On 4 January 2021 national lockdowns were announced for England and Scotland. New guidance has been published on what restrictions are in place and they can be accessed here: The Government’s Advice for England For sector-specific advice see: […]
The government has published the statutory instruments which implement two weeks’ paid bereavement leave for parents upon the death of a child aged under 18. For a simple policy, the Regulations are complex. They are:- The Parental Bereavement Leave Regulations 2020 and The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) Regulations 2020 They come into effect […]
There is no statutory right for a worker to be accompanied by a legal representative at a disciplinary hearing. However, cases have arisen in which workers have argued that the legal right to be accompanied should extend to legal representation. So where do employers stand? Ashok Kanani rounds up the case law on the right […]
Labour & European Law Review Weekly Issue 650 11 December 2019 Section 26 of the Equality Act stipulates that harassment is “unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic”. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held in Bessong v Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust that section 26 cannot be interpreted in such a way that […]
Labour & European Law Review Weekly Issue 638 18 September 2019 Although posting an offensive image on Facebook could constitute an act done “in the course of employment”, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held in Forbes v LHR Airport Ltd that when an image is posted on the employee’s own computer at home, did […]
Constructive knowledge Labour & European Law Review Weekly Issue 632 07 August 2019 Even if they do not have actual knowledge that an employee has a disability, employers can be held to have constructive knowledge of one. In Kelly v Royal Mail Group Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that the employer could not […]