HOLIDAYS AND SICKNESS
 The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has held that a worker who becomes unwell during a period of annual leave has the right to take the lost annual leave at a different time.
In this case the employee prior to his sick leave sustained an injury at work. The injury resulted in him being unwell during the whole period of his intended holiday. The ECJ held that the employee was entitled to take that leave at another time. MORE >>
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION BY ASSOCIATION
 The recent decision in the case of EBR Attridge Law LLP v Coleman demonstrates the growth of discrimination law and influence of EC law in the field of employment law.
The European Court of Justice held that it was possible, at least in respect of direct and/or harassment, for there to be unlawful disability discrimination by association. That is, a person who is not disabled could bring a claim of disability discrimination on the basis of another’s disability. As such in this case the employee had a European Community law right not to suffer discrimination when she took time off to care for her disabled child. MORE >>
AGENCY WORKERS - MORE DRAFT REGULATIONS
 The UK has until 5 December 2011 to implement UK law to have effect to the European Directive on Temporary Agency Workers.
It should be noted that neither the Directive nor the draft regulations seek to change the status of agency workers - that is they are not to be classified, in most cases, as employees. However, the primary aim is to ensure equality of treatment in relation to “basic working and employment conditions” between temporary agency workers and employees. The guidance to the Regulations states that basic working and employment conditions includes formal pay scales, collective agreements and conditions in company handbooks. MORE >>
RACE DISCRIMINATION
 A recent decision in a case involving Amnesty International serves as a good reminder that if detrimental treatment is on the grounds of race the motive behind that treatment is irrelevant.
An employee was refused promotion on the basis that the employer considered that her ethnicity would expose her to additional risk in the role. The Claimant had been identified as the most suitable candidate for a promotion but the employer considered that it would increase the risk to her if she was appointed. The job would entail the Claimant travelling to areas of extreme racial tension and it was thought by the employer that the Claimant’s race would increase the risk to her. MORE >>
ENTITLEMENT CHANGES
The cap on one weeks pay for redundancy and basic award for unfair dismissal went up from £350 to £380.
The maximum redundancy payment/basic award now stands at £11,400.
National Minimum Wage changes for workers over 22 it went from £5.73 per hour to £5.80.
For workers aged 18 - 21 it went from £4.77 to £4.83
And for workers aged 16 - 17 it increased from £3.53 to £3.57.
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