News & Events
News & Events
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 26 Mar, 2021
Daniel Barnett will be holding 30 employment law webinars over 3 weeks from 1st – 19th March 2021 to raise £30,000 for the Free Representation Unit. Daniel Barnett’s webinars will raise funds for the FRU, which has been providing representation in social security and employment tribunals for those who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford legal fees since 1972. Our members will be joining Daniel’s webinars to discuss the following topics: Health and Safety with Gus Baker Monday 1 March 2021 at 3:30pm ACAS Early Conciliation with Andrew Short QC Thursday 4 March 2021 at 3:30pm Employee Data, Monitoring and Privacy with Jeremy Scott-Joynt Friday 5 March 2021 at 9:30am Changing Terms and Conditions with Lydia Seymour Monday…
News 2 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 16 Feb, 2021
We are delighted to invite you to a webcast about the recent Lloyds Judgment on Wednesday 9th December. Hear from Andrew Short QC, Richard Hitchcock QC and Nick Hill, experts from our Pensions Team and counsel instructed on the case. As you will be aware, in 2018 the first Lloyds Judgment confirmed that pension schemes had to equalise excess benefits for the effect of unequal GMPs. It did not however address the position of trustees of pension schemes where a member had transferred out and the trustees had made a transfer payment. On 20th November 2020, Judgment concerning the position of trustees following on a transfer payment was handed down. The consequences of this Judgment for pension schemes are far reaching…
Events 25 Nov, 2020
Andrew Short QC and Nicholas Hill acted for the Representative Defendant in this long-awaited and much anticipated case confirming the scope of the obligation to equalise for the effect of unequal GMPs following transfers out. In 2018 the first Lloyds Judgment [2018] EWHC 2839 (Ch) confirmed, over 20 years after the obligation arose, that pension schemes had to equalise benefits for the effect of unequal GMPs. The 2018 Judgment did not address the position of trustees of pension schemes where a member had transferred out and the trustees had made a transfer payment. In circumstances where the payment made failed to reflect the value of the member’s equalised benefits the unanswered question was whether the trustees remained under an obligation…
News 20 Nov, 2020
On 13 July 2020 the Court of Appeal handed down its second judgment in Safeway Ltd v Newton (previously [2017] EWCA Civ 1482]) concerning the date on which the Normal Pension Ages applicable under the Safeway Pension Scheme were equalised at 65. Safeway Limited v 1) Andrew Newton 2) SPTL [2020] EWCA Civ 869: equalisation pursuant to section 62 Pensions Act 1995 The Court of Appeal held that section 62 Pensions Act 1995 went further than Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome and was an effective measure to close the Barber window. The Background On 1 December 1991 it was announced to Scheme members that Normal Pension Ages (NPAs) would henceforth be 65 years for men and women. On…
News 13 Jul, 2020
Andrew Short QC presents an Employment Law Webinar on Objective Justification & Age Discrimination. As part of the 28 barristers – 14 day Employment Law Series, Andrew Short QC presents a Q&A Webinar on Objective Justification & Age Discrimination. Andrew recently presented this webinar in a series of employment law seminars put together by Outer Temple’s Daniel Barnett. Andrew discusses age discrimination, objective justification and reliance upon ex post facto rationalisations in the light of Seldon and RMT v Lloyd. Free Representation Unit The webinars raised £15000, which was donated to the Free Representation Unit, helping to train future generations of advocates and supporting vulnerable litigants. Find out more For more details visit www.employmentwebinars.co.uk Andrew Short QC has an extensive employment law…
Webinars 15 May, 2020
Andrew Short QC is due to speak at the Discrimination Law in 2020 Conference on Friday 31 January 2020. The conference is to be presented by Michael Rubenstein Conferences Ltd & the Trades Union Congress and will be chaired by Michael Rubenstein. The conference aims to provide an authoritative review on the most dynamic area of employment law. Andrew will be addressing recent developments in disability discrimination, including: New case law on the definition of disability: Mart v Assessment Services Inc Perceived discrimination: Chief Constable of Norfolk v Coffey Tests for discrimination arising from disability: Williams v Trustees of Swansea University, Dunn v Secretary of State for Justice, A Ltd v Z, Birtenshaw v Oldfield New cases on reasonable adjustments Five other of Britain’s leading discrimination law barristers will…
News 8 Jan, 2020
We are delighted to announce that Andrew Short QC has been awarded ‘Employment silk of the Year’ at the Legal 500 UK Awards 2020. The complete list of the 2020 winners can be read here. Andrew Short QC is at the forefront of equal pay claims in the private sector, including Brierley v Asda, Sainsbury’s and Thandi v Next Retail Limited. 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, including McCloud v Lord Chancellor & Ministry of Justice and Sargeant v LFEPA. His “strong strategic insight and advocacy” and “vast technical knowledge of the area” make his Andrew highly sought after by his clients, whether they…
News 5 Dec, 2019
We are delighted to announce that Andrew Short QC has been shortlisted for ‘Employment silk of the Year’ at the Legal 500 UK Awards 2020. Andrew Short QC is at the forefront of equal pay claims in the private sector, including Brierley v Asda, Sainsbury’s and Thandi v Next Retail Limited. 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, including McCloud v Lord Chancellor & Ministry of Justice and Sargeant v LFEPA. Read more about Andrew contact Nick Levett (+44 (0)20 7427 4908) or or Adam Macdonald (+44 (0)20 7427 4906).
News 27 Nov, 2019
The Supreme Court today refused permission to the government to appeal in the cases of McCloud and Sergeant relating to age discrimination in the judges and firefighters’ sector pension schemes. The Court of Appeal held in December 2018 that the age protection given to those within 10 years of retirement when public sector pensions were changed from a final salary to a career average basis, was discriminatory on the grounds of age and that the government had acted irrationally in offering it. This decision will have a major impact on the provision of pensions in the public sector. Andrew Short QC’s specialist practice centres on pensions, employment, and general commercial work. He has acted in many of the leading cases…
News 27 Jun, 2019
We are delighted that Andrew Short QC has been shortlisted in The Lawyer Awards 2019 – ‘Barrister of the Year’ category. The Lawyer Awards are the leading awards initiative within the legal calendar and clear recognition of legal excellence. Andrew Short QC’s practice centres on pensions, employment, and general commercial work. Recent case highlights include ground-breaking decisions over discrimination in pay and pensions, in Abdulla v Birmingham City Council, Brierley v Asda, McCloud v Lord Chancellor, and Sargeant v LFEPA. His “practical” and “realistic” approach together with his “great understanding of the commercial issues in a case” make his strategic advice and his advocacy highly sought after by his clients, whether they are national or international companies or organisations, public bodies,…
News 7 May, 2019
