News

Autistic teacher awarded £850K after being dismissed for making serial complaints

8^th January 2025

A School will pay £850K to a teacher with autism, who raised multiple complaints and grievances, following a Tribunal decision that he had been unfairly dismissed, victimised and discriminated against due to his tenacious pursuit of the complaints, which...

Just People Conference Agenda - 30 September 24

8^th August 2024

Just People Conference 30 September 2024   The agenda and speakers for our conference on Monday 30 September 24, at North Lakes Hotel Penrith, 9am-4pm are confirmed below:   The speakers:   John Falconbridge – working for Capita on behalf of the D...

Just People Newsletter- June 24

20^th June 2024

Your HR and Legal monthly updates and sector news from Just People HR (mailchi.mp)

Just People Conference 30 September 24- You are invited!

20^th June 2024

Employee with ADHD and PTSD awarded £4.5million after dismissal for failing her probationary period

5^th June 2024

Mrs Wright-Turner has been awarded what is believe to be the largest compensation award paid by an Employment Tribunal in a Public Sector case following the judgement in the case of Mrs Wright-Turner v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Ms K De...

Reasonable Adjustments – Actual or Constructive Knowledge and Reasonable Enquiries

16^th April 2024

In our blog, we compare two recent Employment Appeal Tribunal judgements considering claims of a failure to make reasonable adjustments. Particularly, the blog focuses on the often misconstrued topic of knowledge and how this impacts upon the duty to mak...

Just People Newsletter- January 2024

15^th January 2024

Your HR half termly update and sector news from Just People HR  https://mailchi.mp/5f5e25c23f99/your-hr-monthly-updates-and-sector-news-from-just-people-hr-12671932?e=[UNIQID]  

New Year, New… Regulations! A resolution to the Harpur v Brazel Holiday Pay Ruling

2^nd January 2024

In what is expected to be very welcome news to employers, new Regulations have come into force this month transforming statutory holiday provisions. The Regulations, in part, aim to correct the anomalies arising from the Harpur v Bazel ruling. Key chang...

Focus on Redundancy

2^nd January 2024

With budgetary concerns always prevalent, schools are needing to review their staffing structures on a continuous basis to ensure efficiency and the most effective environment for delivering the curriculum and the learning of students. Where such reviews...

Casual workers to get a right to request a more predictable working pattern

6^th November 2023

Casual workers will be able to request more stable contracts and hours, as a result of the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 having recently been passed. The Act was initially promised in the Government’s Good Work Plan back in 2018, an...

Menopausal employee wins nearly £65,000 in a successful disability discrimination claim

14^th September 2023

An Employment Tribunal has held that Direct Line discriminated against an employee with menopausal symptoms, on the grounds of disability, by failing to make reasonable adjustments for her, and by treating her unfavourably because of something arising in...

Best for Baby and Best for Business – New Workers’ Rights for Parents and Carers

13^th June 2023

In a nutshell: Parents and unpaid carers are to be given new protections at work, covering leave entitlement and redundancy rules. Extended redundancy protection which provides enhanced rights to employees who are at risk of redundacy while pregnant ...

Bernard Manning is back! Bet you never expected to hear that from an employment lawyer?!

25^th May 2023

In a nutshell: Why do I mention Bernard Manning, you ask. Well, for all the wrong reasons, as you might expect. It’s all to do with the government’s intention to reintroduce statutory protection for employees, making employers liable for harassment of ...

The Contract is King! A Timely Reminder to Get Your Contracts in Order and Avoid Unlawful Deductions Claims

25^th May 2023

In a nutshell: A recent case sheds light on the pitfalls of badly drafted contracts for TTO staff when it comes to meeting National Minimum Wage (NMW) requirements. The case held that the NMW wage was payable for weekly hours throughout the year, inclu...

Government Announces there will be no sunset-strip! But do changes to holiday pay and TUPE transfers signal a new dawn?

15^th May 2023

What’s new? You may have read our previous blog Sunset Strip- Forecast for Employers: FfE news for the year ahead in employment law: | Just People (justpeoplehr.com) about government plans to “sunset” (in less romantic terms ‘get rid of’) all employment...

Small steps and everyone’s a winner: New ACAS Guidance on reasonable adjustments to support mental health

15^th May 2023

What’s new? Acas has published new guidance for employers and employees on making reasonable adjustments in the workplace to support employees suffering with mental health problems. Helpfully the guidance also includes a number of ‘real-life’ practical ...

Don’t be a Coronation Chicken - Pay Calculations for the Bank Holiday explained.

24^th April 2023

As you will all be aware, the Government has announced that there will be an additional bank holiday on Monday 8 May 2023 for the King’s Coronation. As on previous national occasions in 2022 (e.g., the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Friday 3 June and her F...

Sunset Strip- Forecast for Employers: FfE news for the year ahead in employment law:

22^nd March 2023

Forecast for Employers: FfE news for the year ahead in employment law: In the infamous words of Bob Dylan: “These times they are a-changing”. As the current financial year comes to a close, what changes are afoot in the year ahead? Forewarned is, as the...

No more casual workers – who could have predicted it?

22^nd March 2023

The government has recently announced its backing for a private members Bill - the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill. The Bill follows recommendations from the Taylor ‘Good Work Plan’ in 2017 to allow those on zero hours contracts to reques...

U-turn on Harpur v Brazel… How nuts is that?

22^nd March 2023

As we all know, last year the Supreme Court in Brazel v Harpur Trust said that all workers on permanent or continuous contracts must receive 5.6 weeks paid holiday each year, even if they only worked for part of the year. Meaning that part-year workers a...

Pregnant not screwed

22^nd March 2023

Pregnant women and new parents will receive greater protection from being made redundant under new proposed legislation. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill was a Private Members' Bill, now backed by the government and theref...

Staffing Strikes

22^nd March 2023

Towards the end of 2022, whilst riding the wave of strike action in the rail sector, the government introduced new legislation imposing restrictions on the right to strike and the need to meet minimum service levels. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) ...

Is the sun coming out for the holidays? Government consults on reversing Harpur v Brazel “absurd result”. Pro-rating holiday pay - back on the table for term-time and casual workers.

9^th February 2023

The media have called Rishi Sunak’s snappily titled ‘Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill’ a “bonfire of laws”. His plan is to automatically repeal legislation derived from EU law, such as the Working Time Regulations 1998, so that it all expires...

Casual Workers’ Holiday Pay Calculations: The Nuts and Bolts!

26^th October 2022

What fraction of "a week's leave" does a casual worker use for each day's holiday? The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) define holiday entitlement in weeks. Employers and workers usually talk about holiday entitlement in days. The WTR do not set out...

Harpur v Brazel: A Tough Nut to Crack!

26^th October 2022

Harpur v Brazel: The facts: permanent term-time only zero-hours contract for ad hoc music tuition. Paid an hourly rate for the hours worked each term. Annual leave entitlement specified as 5.6 weeks to be taken in three equal tranches of 1.87 weeks...

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022: Online searches for shortlisted candidates

26^th September 2022

One area of the KCSIE 2022 guidance that is raising questions is the new requirement that “as part of the shortlisting process schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidate...

The Queen's Funeral - How to Handle the Bank Holiday

15^th September 2022

  King Charles has approved an order that the Queen’s funeral on Monday, 19 September 2022 will be a one-off national bank holiday. A government announcement confirms that schools should close for the day, allowing “individuals, businesses and other o...

Planning a Restructure or Redundancy process

16^th August 2022

DfE guidance states that schools should review their structures regularly to ensure that the deployment of staff is as effective and efficient as possible and that the structure remains fit for purpose and relevant to the current and future needs of the ...

What are the main key changes in the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022 guidance?

16^th August 2022

Following consultation with the Education Sector, the DFE have updated the KCSiE guidance with a number of notable changes that aim to improve the approach to safeguarding in school. The additional 13 pages of guidance in this year’s guidance need to be...

End of Year Appraisals

21^st June 2022

As we approach the end of this academic year it is important to be planning for your end of year appraisal meetings with both teachers and support staff. Key points to remember are as follows:- The annual appraisal review should be a summary of perform...

Fixed Term Contracts in Schools

27^th April 2022

As Schools enter the summer term, Leadership Teams begin to consider what staffing needs the school will have in the forthcoming academic year, including considering who needs to be issued or re-issued with a Fixed Term Contract. Fixed Term Contracts ar...

Shake up of RSC regions

22^nd February 2022

The DfE has announced a shake up of the areas covered by the regional schools commissioners, with the current “North” region appearing to be split into North East and North West.  This may lead to Cumbria having a new regional schools commissioner, altho...

Launch of Cumbria Union Negotiating Committee for Academies

21^st February 2022

Natalie Ruane of Just People (HR) has established a joint negotiating committee for academies in Cumbria, to engage, consult and negotiate with trade union officials.  Meetings will run every half term.  Part one of the meeting will be an open forum for ...

Employment Legislation to watch out for in 2022

21^st February 2022

There are a number of significant employment changes proposed by the Government but with no specific timeline attached to these – instead, they are to be introduced “when parliamentary time allows”. Areas to keep an eye on include: the new proposed dut...

Sexual harassment in the workplace

20^th February 2022

On 21 July 2021 the government published its response to the consultation on workplace sexual harassment. The response confirms that the government will introduce a duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment and new protections from third-party haras...