current news

Retirement cases frozen pending Age Concern appeal

The President of the Employment Tribunals has issued a practice direction staying all current and future claims relating to mandatory retirement, pending the outcome of the Heyday appeal in the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Heyday, which is connected to Age Concern, challenges the legality of allowing employers to compulsorily retire employees at age 65 under the 2006 Age Regulations, but don’t expect news anytime soon, as the appeal is unlikely to be resolved by the ECJ until Spring 2009.

The practice direction stems from a case brought by Anna Johns, against her former employer, Solent SD. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) overturned the Tribunal’s decision and put Johns’ claim on hold until the ECJ has ruled, as will now be the case with all similar claims.

In the meantime, we believe employers should continue to follow the statutory retirement procedures as they stand. Future liability will depend on the outcome of the Heyday appeal, but the recent ECJ ruling in the Spanish case of Palacios de la Villa v Cortefiel Servicios bodes well for employers.

Employment Judges

Employment Chairmen were abolished on 1st December 2007. There is no need for alarm, or celebration, however, since it is only a change of title and they have been replaced by Employment Judges.

The change is aimed at creating greater diversity in applications and at reflecting the size and importance of the current role.

Employers face £10,000 fines for employing illegal workers

From 1st February 2008, employers that unknowingly employ illegal workers will face fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker. The implementation of the relevant parts of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 also means that those who employ illegal workers knowingly could be subject to criminal conviction and unlimited fines or even a prison sentence.

The newly renamed Borders and Immigration Authority (BIA) will benefit from a significant increase in funding and enhanced investigatory powers to support these new offences, meaning that employers are likely to face far more scrutiny under the new regime.

There is also likely to be an increased administrative burden on HR departments, particularly in relation to keeping watch on workers who have time restricted rights to work in the UK. Employers should establish a contractual and disciplinary framework to support the provision of information from workers and rigidly diarise to ensure that it is obtained at the right time. Individuals involved in recruitment, including HR, managers, directors and partners must be extra vigilant in ensuring that pre-employment and continuing checks are made as necessary in order to avoid personal prosecution.

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“After attending Sherrards’ Mock Tribunal Workshop, I arranged for the same course to be run in-house for our managers. All those who attended felt it was extremely worthwhile and would now feel much more confident if they had to face a Tribunal.”