11 Court Cases that could make significant impact on UK Business in 2015

The following 11 landmark court and employment tribunal cases should reach a legal conclusion in 2015.    All have the potential to make significant impact on UK business. 

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Meaning of ‘temporary’ agency worker -   Moran v Ideal Cleaning Services
The Court of Appeal will decide if agency workers placed on assignment for indefinite periods fall within employment protection offered by the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, which refer only to ‘temporary’ assignments. The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that they do not if the assignment lacks a defined period.

Permanent health insurance and TUPE - BT Management Services v Edwards: Last year, a Tribunal decided that when an employer outsourced its field operations, a telecoms engineer in receipt of permanent health insurance was not part of the organised grouping of employees and therefore did not transfer employment. The Employment Appeal Tribunal will clarify the status of those workers in a similar position during 2015.

Holiday pay and commission- Lock v British Gas
Following the ruling from the EU Court of Justice, reported here in November,  that commission should be included when calculating holiday pay, this case is due to return to the Employment Tribunal. Two hearings will take place in February and March, which will address outstanding issues such as the appropriate reference period for calculating holiday pay.  

Travel time as working time -Privados del sindicato Comisiones Obreras v Tyco Integrated Security:
The European Court will decide whether travel time counts as working time where an employee does not have a fixed place of work but is required to travel at the beginning of the day from home to the premises of one of his/her customers and at the end of the day from the premises of another customer back to his home.

Unfair dismissal - Poclava v Toledano: 
This Spanish case is also pending before European judges. It questions the legality of excluding certain employees from the right to protection against unjustified dismissal. Depending on the outcome, it may have implications for the prevailing British two year qualifying condition for unfair dismissal protection.

Changing terms and conditions -Norman v National Audit Office (NAO) 
NAO's appointment letters say that employees’ particulars of conditions of service are ‘...subject to amendment: any significant changes affecting staff in general will be notified by management circulars ... while changes affecting your particular terms will be notified separately to you’. Does this mean the employer can unilaterally vary terms of employment? A Tribunal said it does. The Employment Appeal Tribunal considered this case last month. Their decision is imminent

Collective bargaining -Balpa v Jet2.com:
Two years ago, BALPA was successful in securing collective bargaining for a group of workers at Jet2.com concerning their pay, hours and holidays under the statutory recognition regime.  BALPA is now challenging in the High Court the scope of that collective bargaining, and therefore their negotiating rights, which may have wider practical significance for other employers who have agreed collective bargaining also on ‘pay, hours and holidays’.  

Collective redundancy consultation -USDAW v Ethel Austin Ltd
A European judgement is expected next week. It will help the UK Court of Appeal to decide whether the Employment Appeals Tribunal was right to disapply British law with the result that the 20 employee trigger for collective redundancy consultation applies per employer, not per establishment.    

Severance payments and age discrimination - Landin v ENCO
Can an employer introduce a redundancy payment scheme that provides for reduced payments for employees who have reached pensionable age? That’s the question to be answered this year by the European Court of Justice.

Inappropriate conduct and religion or belief discrimination-Henderson v General Municipal and Boilermakers Union: 
An Employment Appeal Tribunal will decide the complex issue of distinguishing between dismissing someone because of their philosophical beliefs (which is unlawful direct discrimination) and dismissing someone because they have manifested those beliefs inappropriately (which is not directly discriminatory). 

Strike pay deductions -Hartley & others v King Edward VI College: 

On the 18^th March, the  Court of Appeal will start a 2 day hearing to address a question about  the proper calculation of a day’s pay for the purposes of deductions following strike action (whether it should be based on 1/365th or 1/260th of salary).

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