Welcome to Employment Edit, our regular update giving the pick of the key developments in employment law from the last couple of weeks:
- Gender pay reporting – the government plans to make employers with more than 250 employees publish gender pay data showing whether there are differences in the pay of male and female employees.
- Disability discrimination – In a helpful decision for employers, the EAT has held that an employer who took reasonable steps to discover whether an employee was disabled when dealing with persistent short-term absences, but had not investigated discrepancies in an occupational health report, did enough to avoid having constructive knowledge of the disability. Donelien v Liberata UK Ltd.
- Fit for Work – The Fit for Work (FFW) GP referral service started its nationwide roll out on Monday 9 March 2015. The roll out map shows where FFW GP referrals are taking place across England and Wales over the coming months. It is expected that employers will be able to refer employees to the service by autumn 2015, when roll out of GP referrals is complete.
- Zero hours contracts – The Government Response to the ‘Banning Exclusivity Clauses: Tackling Avoidance’ Consultation has now been published. One key outcome is the government proposes that exclusivity terms in contracts will be unenforceable where an individual is guaranteed less than a certain level of weekly income. However, individuals who receive a basic pay rate of £20 or more per hour will be exempted from the prohibition on exclusivity terms.
If you would like more information, or specific advice, please contact Roger Bull or get in touch with your usual Burges Salmon contact.