Employment

Gross misconduct can be any conduct where an employee has behaved in a way that breaches their contract of employment. This could be something in relation to a particular industry or job title and can include dishonesty, theft, violence, intoxication in the workplace, health and safety breaches or refusal to obey reasonable instructions. Employers usually set out what amounts to gross misconduct in an employment contract, although this does not mean it’s a pre-requisite for action being taken.

If an employer is proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days, this amounts to a collective redundancy. If this is the case, certain legal requirements will apply regarding collective consultation. The law requires an employer to start consulting with elected employee representatives or a recognised trade union prior to any employees being made redundant.

TUPE is short for the “Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations”. It protects employees’ rights when the company they work for transfers to a new employer. In this situation, the existing terms in an employment contract cannot usually be changed by the new employer. However, a new employer can change terms and conditions after a transfer if there are genuine economical, technical or organisational reasons for doing so.

Your employer can dismiss you at any point in your employment, but whether the dismissal is fair or lawful is another matter. Employers will usually set out within contracts of employment that a shorter notice period is required until the probation period has been passed. Employees should note that in most cases it is not possible to pursue a claim for unfair dismissal unless they have been employed for a continuous period of two years.

Having a garden leave clause in your contract means your employer can exclude you from work for the duration of your notice period. Whilst you remain employed and bound by the terms of your employment during this period, you are not yet able to begin working for another employer. Similar to post-termination restrictive covenants, garden leave is a key protection for employers. However, in order to place an employee on garden leave, employers will need to ensure that there is a garden leave provision in the contracts of employment.

Under the Equality Act 2010, sex discrimination and sexual harassment are identified as forms of discrimination. Both types of discrimination are a little different from one another but do involve unwanted conduct from the perspective of the victim.

Sex discrimination arises when an employee is treated differently or unfairly due to their sex, whilst sexual harassment is defined as “unwanted conduct of an explicit sexual nature”. Examples of sexual harassment can include sexual remarks, sharing explicit messages and images and unwanted physical touching (the latter amounting to sexual assault).

Time limits for claims in the Employment Tribunal are generally very strict. With most claims, the deadline is three months from the date of the act complained of; this could be the date of dismissal or the date when a discriminatory act took place. However, if an employer and employee enter into ACAS early conciliation, this can extend the time limit to legally present a claim.

A redundancy pool is a group of employees that have been provisionally selected for redundancy. However, as part of a fair redundancy process, you are entitled to suggest alternatives to redundancy during the consultation process. If a claim is pursued, the Employment Tribunal will always consider whether the choice of the pool was fair and reasonable.