News & Events
News & Events
We are delighted to announce that Andrew Short QC has been shortlisted for ‘Employment Silk of the Year’ at the Chambers & Partners UK Bar Awards 2021. Andrew Short QC continues to act in the biggest multi party cases. He is at the forefront of equal pay claims in the private sector (ASDA; Sainsbury’s; Next). His multi party and pensions knowledge has resulted in instructions on behalf of hundreds of judges and thousands of firefighters in successful discrimination challenges to public sector pension reform (McCloud; Sargeant). Andrew’s expertise and experience in pensions crossover employment claims and in equal pay litigation is unrivalled and his work is different from individual claims by employees against employers. Andrew’s cases are complex in terms…
News, Employment 27 Aug, 2021
The Court of Justice of the European Union gives important judgment in favour of several thousand female and male workers represented by Keith Bryant QC, Naomi Cunningham, Stephen Butler and Chloë Bell (instructed by Harcus Sinclair UK Limited, part of Harcus Parker) bringing equal pay claims against Tesco. This is a seminal judgment on the scope of equal pay protections to which workers in England and Wales must now be entitled in domestic courts and tribunals; Article 157 TFEU has direct effect in equal pay claims based on work of equal value. The claimants, represented by the team from Outer Temple Chambers, are all store-based employees or former employees of Tesco Stores Ltd. They claim that they are paid significantly less than the approximately 11,000 employees…
News, Employment 3 Jun, 2021
Naomi Cunningham has been awarded The Lawyer’s ‘Barrister of the Week’ in recognition of her role as part of the team acting for 35,000 claimants in an equal pay claim against ASDA at the Supreme Court earlier this month. The Lawyer, in their article, explored Naomi’s employment law career, starting over 20 years ago when Naomi thought that representing 42 low paid workers in a case against Cromwell Hospital was a formidable logistical challenge. Fast forward to today and Naomi is currently part of a team acting for 35,000 claimants in an equal pay claim against ASDA, most recently landing a noteworthy triumph in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected Asda’s appeal and held that the Claimants (35,000…
News, Employment 13 Apr, 2021
In a judgment handed down this morning, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Asda’s appeal and held that the Claimants (35,000 predominantly female retail employees) can use male distribution employees as comparators for the purposes of an equal pay claim. Andrew Short QC, Naomi Cunningham and Paul Livingston were instructed by Leigh Day to appear on behalf of the Claimants. The claims are brought on the basis that retail employees are paid less than distribution employees despite doing work of equal value. Asda had argued that the distribution employees were not valid comparators as they and the retail employees worked at different locations and were not employed on “common terms” within the meaning of the legislation. This argument was previously rejected…
News, Employment 26 Mar, 2021
Naomi Cunningham was part of a legal team who, today, have won a High Court challenge against the Office for National Statistics regarding a question on sex and the issue of self-identification in the 2021 census. Campaign Group Fair Play for Women has won its campaign to have guidance from the Office for National Statistics about the “sex” question in the 2021 Census permanently withdrawn. Mr Justice Swift granted permission and interim relief in an urgent hearing in the Admin Court last week, and listed the case for an expedited full merits hearing on 18th March 2021. Jason Coppel QC and Tom Cross from 11KBW and Outer Temple Chambers’ Naomi Cunningham were instructed by Sinclairslaw for Fair Play…
News, Employment 17 Mar, 2021
On 29 March 2021 Peter Linstead has been invited by the DIFC Academy of Law to speak on the discrimination provisions within the DIFC Employment Law of 2019. This two hour webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of DIFC Discrimination Law. Peter Linstead was involved in aspects of the consultation on the new law. The presentation aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the provisions and how the DIFC courts might apply them; to consider the few existing DIFC discrimination decisions and those in other jurisdictions which assist in interpreting the law; and to focus on the interesting and topical issues, as well as explaining what the provisions mean. Booking the Webinar You may read more about the webinar and…
News, Employment 16 Mar, 2021
Andrew Short QC and Lydia Seymour, instructed by Walkers Solicitors, have successfully resisted an appeal in the EAT by various Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) who had argued that they should not be liable for age discrimination claims from firefighters on the basis that they had been “acting pursuant to an enactment”. The appeal was related to the case of Secretary of State for the Home Department & others v Sargeant [2019] EWCA Civ 2844; [2019] ICR 1489, in which Andrew and Lydia acted for over 6,000 firefighters who claimed that the decision to exclude them from their pension scheme in circumstances in which their older colleagues were allowed to remain in them, was age discrimination. Those claims were upheld…
News, Employment 16 Feb, 2021
Peter Linstead, a specialist in employment and commercial law from Outer Temple Chambers, has written a new handbook on Employee Competition; “Restraining Competition by Employees – A Practical Guide to Restrictive Covenants, Injunctions and Other Remedies”. “Restraining Competition by Employees – A Practical Guide to Restrictive Covenants, Injunctions and Other Remedies” is published by Law Brief Publishing. Click here for further information or to purchase a copy. The purpose of the book is to create an easily accessible, indexed guide to this area of law, which is often regarded as highly specialist, even within the employment law community. Whilst fully up to date and covering all areas of importance, it is designed to enable solicitors and barristers to gain knowledge…
Legal Blog & Publications, News, Employment, Employment 15 Feb, 2021
On 19 January 2021, the Court of Appeal handed down an important decision regarding data protection and law enforcement. Bianca Venkata evaluates the judgment. On 19 January 2021, in The Queen (on the application of M) v The Chief Constable of Sussex Police, Brighton & Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership [2021] EWCA Civ 42 the Court of Appeal has handed down a decision regarding part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA”) which is concerned with the processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes. The unanimous judgment, delivered by Lady Justice Andrews, is the first of its kind to examine Part 3 of the DPA. The judgement considers the safeguards for the processing of “sensitive data” for law enforcement…
News, Employment 1 Feb, 2021
Daniel Barnett has published a new book on Resolving Grievances, aimed at employers, HR Professionals and employment lawyers. By raising a formal grievance an employee is indicating dissatisfaction with some aspect of work or the workplace. Resolving grievances promptly and effectively can minimise the damage and disruption, and limit an employer’s exposure to employment tribunal claims. This book shows you how to define, manage and resolve a grievance. It covers: the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures the employer’s initial response when receiving a grievance conducting an investigation holding a grievance meeting the right to be accompanied deciding and issuing the grievance outcome the appeal process follow-up after the grievance has ended tricky grievance situations getting it…
News, Employment 29 Dec, 2020
Daniel Barnett acted for the Claimant in Angard & Royal Mail v Kocur, a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal handed down in December 2020. Mr Kocur was an agency worker, supplied to the Royal Mail by its wholly owned subsidiary employment agency Angard Staffing Solutions. He brought a number of claims, which have previously been ruled upon by the EAT and Court of Appeal. This latest appeal rolls up multiple legal issues on the rights of agency workers under the Agency Worker Regulations 2010. In a 72 page judgment spanning eight legal issues on the rights of agency workers, the EAT held (amongst other things): the rights of agency workers to be informed about permanent vacancies does not extend…
News, Employment 15 Dec, 2020
Daniel Barnett and Jeremy Scott-Joynt have updated the market-leading Employment Law Handbook. First published in 1999, the eighth edition of the Employment Law Handbook provides a comprehensively updated overview of employment law. Lord Neuberger, past President of the Supreme Court, says in his foreword: “This book makes employment law simple… I commend it as a reliable, user-friendly and clear guide to anyone with an employment law problem.” The latest handbook provides a comprehensively updated overview of employment law. Fully revised and rewritten, it covers: Employment status Unfair and wrongful dismissal Discrimination Redundancy Transfer of undertakings Health & safety at work Remedies and compensation Tribunal procedure For more information and to purchase a copy, please visit www.employmentlawhandbook.co.uk About the Authors Daniel…
News, Employment 3 Nov, 2020
