Category: Employment

Celebrating Employee Ownership Day

Weddings and civil partnerships are brimming with joy, hope, and promises of forever. But amidst the cake tastings and venue scouting, a conversation about prenuptial agreements (prenups) can feel out of place. However, a prenuptial agreement can be a powerful tool for couples to enter marriage or civil partnership with clarity, open communication, and financial security.

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Fire and rehire: employers should proceed with caution

Firing and rehiring is the practice of making changes to employment terms by dismissing members of staff and re-engaging them on new terms.  However, this approach can expose the employer to a risk of unfair dismissal claims. The risk associated with this practice was demonstrated when the High Court subjected the supermarket giant Tesco to […]

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Every little helps – fire and rehire

“Fire and rehire” is a practice where an employer terminates a contract of employment and re-engages the member of staff with contractual changes. This approach has proved rather popular in recent times, not least due to socio-economic factors such as the ‘gig economy’ and Covid. But whether to introduce a “fire and rehire” policy is […]

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Fairness in flexible working

The UK government has launched an open consultation on their proposals to make flexible working the default. However, new research suggests there are underlying concerns when it comes to equality of treatment between office-based and home-based employees. Businesses are encouraged to take steps to ensure their workers receive equal opportunities, and so they remain engaged, […]

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Redundancy and moving on to pastures new

Recent data from Renovo suggests that out of those facing redundancy within the next 12 months, over half are considering a change in career. Those facing redundancy will often be presented with a Settlement Agreement.  Essentially, these agreements prohibit the employee from pursuing a multitude of claims against their employer in exchange for a final […]

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Celebrity support continues

Earlier this week Dame Barbara Windsor and her husband Scott Mitchell called on the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to solve the dementia care crisis.  Following this Chris Evans has spoken out about raising money to fight dementia, stating that “One and a half million people are affected by dementia in one way or another…. This […]

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Do Swedish paternity rights oppress women?

We’ve heard a lot about paternity leave rights in the press recently, with calls for a fairer system to be introduced in the UK (allowing parents to share maternity/paternity leave and responsibility for dependents). As the Swedish system is usually heralded as one to aspire to I was really intrigued to read that  great policies […]

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Increased protection: pregnancy & maternity rights

Unlike other trends in discrimination, maternity, pregnancy and family discrimination shows no sign of diminishing over time. Research commissioned by BEIS in 2015 indicated that up to 54,000 women lost their jobs in one year due to pregnancy or maternity discrimination. Furthermore, 1 in 9 women said that they had been fired or made redundant […]

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#MeToo vs Non-disclosure agreements

One would be hard-pressed to find a newspaper or website not reporting the latest headlines from Prime Minister’s question time. Some cynics have too often described movements such as #MeToo as a fad while others with a less pessimistic disposition see the current political climate as a timely wake up call. The most recent development […]

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Gender diversity in the law

By Posy Putnam (Intern at Hedges Law) The gender pay gap in law sits at a staggering 30% – far higher than the nationwide average of 19%. Since 1990, at least 60% of newly qualified solicitors are women, and yet this has not translated into greater representation in more senior positions with only 28% of […]

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