header-logo header-logo

08 October 2021 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7951 / Categories: Features , Employment
printer mail-detail

Employment law brief: 8 October 2021

60012
This month, Ian Smith focuses on part-time and zero hours conundrums, and shares a tale of compulsory retirement from the city of dreaming spires
  • Part-timers—the reason for less favourable treatment. Effect of suspension on a zero-hours contract. Asserting statutory rights—a question of timing. Age discrimination justification—you pays your money and takes your choice.

The employment lawyer’s plea/cop-out ‘It’s all a question of fact’ can be seen writ large in the last cases considered here, both against Oxford University by compulsorily retired professors. Before these, there are cases this month on less favourable treatment of part-timers, the effect of a suspension on a person under a zero-hours contract (with the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) going back on a previous but difficult case of its own) and the assertion of statutory rights (with the EAT suggesting a way around what could be a possible limitation on the claimant’s rights here).

Part-timers

The difference between the causation test of ‘but for’ and the motivation test of ‘on the ground that’ may seem to an outsider to be legal sophistry, but the case

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
back-to-top-scroll