Ian Smith checks out the latest disputes in the world of employment law
September saw some movement on the government’s overall review of employment law, with an announcement by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (as part of its cutting red tape agenda) that charging for tribunal applications is to go ahead, and there is to be consultation on raising the unfair dismissal qualifying period to two years and on repealing the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), s 40(2), which imposes liability on employers for harassment of employees by third parties, such as customers or clients. On the case law front, we have seen developments in two well-known pieces of litigation on diverse issues on working time; in addition there has been an interesting Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision on the difficult issue of forcing through pay cuts as part of a business plan.
The sky’s the limit
As the litigation in what is now Williams v British Airways plc C-155/10 proceeded through the domestic courts, it tended to be treated narrowly as a case purely under the
