In August of last year, four employment related legal notices came into force but were shortly 'suspended' following various objections from interested stakeholders. The legal notices related to annual leave; itemised payslips; transfer of business and temporary agency workers. In December of last year, the legal notices relating to annual leave and itemised payslips were further amended and have now come into force. The legal notice introducing changes to the Transfer of Business (Protection of Employment) Regulations have not been amended and have apparently als...

An employee had been allowed to work from home because of a medical condition, and this following his doctor's recommendation. After a period of time with this arrangement, the company ultimately decided to withdraw its approval and requested that the employee reports to work at its official premises. The employee refused, and his employment was terminated. Consequently, the employee instituted proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal, claiming unfair dismissal and discrimination because of his disability. In its decision of the 5th December 2018, the Tribunal s...

In the Joined Cases C-569/16 (Bauer) and C-570/16 (Willmeroth), decided last month, the Court of Justice of the European Union had to decide whether the widows of two workers were entitled, as sole heirs, to demand from their spouses' previous employers an allowance in lieu of annual leave which had not been availed of by their spouses. The Court ruled that the worker's right to paid annual leave, which it emphasised constitutes an essential principle of EU social law, does not terminate upon his death. The reason for termination of the employment relationship is ...

Increased labour mobility within the European Union has led the European Commission to propose a European Labour Authority with the main objectives of ensuring easier access to information for individuals and employers and strengthening cooperation between national authorities in cross-border enforcement and inspections. Cooperation and exchange of information will be achieved by establishing national liaison officers from each Member State. The Authority will also have the task to provide mediation between national authorities in cases of disputes between Member ...

  In case C-12/17 ('Dicu'), the Court of Justice of the European Union was asked to decide whether the Working Time Directive (Directive 2003/88/EC) precludes a provision in national law which, for the purposes of determining a worker's entitlement to paid annual leave, does not regard the amount of time spent by the worker on parental leave. The main question was therefore whether a period of parental leave had to be treated as a period of actual work to determine the paid annual leave entitlement. The Court stated that the purpose of annual leave is to enab...