Topic: Uncategorized

Managing Immigration Remotely

The current situation is presenting a number of practical difficulties for employers regarding right to work and other immigration matters that may arise amongst their employees. The Home Office has been proactive in relaxing many of its strict requirements to assist, however some areas remain uncertain:

Right to work checks – a valid right to work check is required in order to obtain a statutory excuse against illegal working. Right to work checks must be conducted by an employer before the employee commences work and to ensure any time limited leave to remain is validly extended. Those checks must

The UK proposes a new points based immigration system

By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Amanda Sanders (UK) on February 20, 2020 Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized

On 19 February 2020 the UK Government published its policy statement setting out its proposals for a new points-based immigration system. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, free movement of workers will cease and all EU and non-EU citizens will be treated equally from 1 January 2021. The Government will introduce a new immigration system which will be a points-based system giving priority to highly skilled migrants. This arguably has particular implications for certain industry sectors such as construction, hospitality and social care where many people employed by those sectors are low-paid workers and a significant number of them … Continue Reading

UK: An employer’s duty to its employees in the context of Coronavirus

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on February 11, 2020 Posted in Contracts, Coronavirus, General, UK, Uncategorized

The World Health Organisation has declared that the Coronavirus is a public health emergency of international concern and the first reported cases have appeared in the UK. What steps should employers be taking in relation to their employees?

Travel to affected areas

Employers owe a duty of care to their employees to take reasonable steps to protect their health and safety and to provide a safe place and system of work. Employers should therefore not insist that an employee travels to an area affected by the virus for work related purposes. Government advice should be followed, particularly for those UK … Continue Reading

A new immigration landscape: Migration Advisory Committee Recommendations

By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Aida Geragusian on February 10, 2020 Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published its widely anticipated report on 28 January 2020, setting out its recommendations for a new UK immigration system to be launched in time for the end of free movement of people on 31 December 2020. The Government will be considering the recommendations in the context of its Immigration Bill, expected to be published in March 2020. The main recommendations are set out below.

Possible role of a points based system

1. Skilled worker route for entry with a job offer. The current Tier 2 General category should be retained and apply … Continue Reading

UK set to introduce ‘world first’ right to two weeks’ parental bereavement leave

By Joanna MacKenzie on January 28, 2020 Posted in Contracts, General, UK, Uncategorized

The UK Government has announced that a new right to two weeks’ parental bereavement will come into force from 6 April 2020.

The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Regulations (which have been laid before Parliament and are awaiting final approval) implement a statutory right to a minimum of two weeks unpaid leave for all employed parents following the loss of a child under the age of 18, or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, irrespective of their length of service.

Parents will be able to take bereavement leave at any time within a period of 56 weeks after the … Continue Reading

Upcoming Employment Law Changes in 2020

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on January 7, 2020 Posted in Contracts, General, UK, Uncategorized

As we start the new year with a new Government in the UK, we consider the important employment law changes that will, or may, come into effect in 2020.

New right to a written statement of terms

Currently, employees who have been continuously employed for more than one month must be provided with a written statement of terms within two months of employment commencing. From 6 April 2020, this right is being extended to include workers as well as employees. In addition, the right to the written statement will be a day one right, meaning that workers will be entitled … Continue Reading

Supreme Court awards employee compensation amounting to 5% of the revenue of outstandingly profitable patent in Shanks v Unilever

By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Seiko Hidaka on December 2, 2019 Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized

The ownership of a company’s intellectual property is a sensitive subject for many companies. A recent case considered the compensation an employee may be entitled to under the Patents Act 1977 where the patents are held to be of outstanding benefit to the employer.

As it is often a company’s employees who create intellectual property, it is vital that the company’s interests are safeguarded in this respect. The general position in the UK is that intellectual property created by employees in the course of their normal duties of employment is automatically owned by their employer, and that this applies also … Continue Reading

Right to work in the UK and requests for evidence

By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) on November 20, 2019 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK, Uncategorized

A recent UK case considered whether an employer acted reasonably in requiring an employee, who was not a national of the European Economic Area (EEA), married to an EEA national, to produce documentation to show his right to work in the UK.

In the UK:

1) it is illegal to for an employer in the UK to employ somebody who does not have a right to work in the UK;

2) an employer can avoid liability for a civil penalty for breach of the above obligation if it carries out the requisite right to work checks before an employee’s employment … Continue Reading

Legal advice privilege in employment

By Amanda Sanders (UK) and Nick Howard on October 25, 2019 Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized

A recent decision in the UK Court of Appeal has provided guidance in the area of privilege in employment claims.

In Curless v Shell International Ltd, the Court of Appeal had to consider whether legal advice privilege should be disapplied to an email on the basis that the advice fell within the “iniquity principle”.

Legal advice privilege applies to confidential communications between lawyers and their clients. However, legal advice privilege does not apply where the advice is iniquitous, i.e. where the communication or document came into being for the purpose of furthering a criminal or fraudulent design. In this case … Continue Reading

New fast track visa to cement the UK as a science superpower

By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Aida Geragusian on August 14, 2019 Posted in UK, Uncategorized

The Home Office has announced a new fast-track immigration offer for individuals with skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. The scheme will provide a three-year visa, during which the individual can come and go from the UK at will. Following the three year period, those on the scheme can apply for indefinite leave to remain. If successful, this will provide a permanent right to reside in the UK and access to healthcare and benefits on the same basis as British citizens.

There will be no minimum salary requirement, and the individuals do not need to secure a … Continue Reading

Why sacking senior executives is a risky business

By Samantha Maddern on July 18, 2019 Posted in Asia Pacific, Australia, Uncategorized

Since the enactment of the ‘adverse action’ provisions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) some 10 years ago, it is far more difficult for an employer to lawfully dismiss an executive or senior manager. Why? Because adverse action claims:

are relatively easy to bring;
can include compensation for hurt, distress and humiliation (and damages are uncapped);
can be difficult to successfully defend (due largely to a reverse onus of proof); and
expose the employer to considerable financial, legal and reputational risks – even when there was a good reason to remove the executive and the

Migration Advisory Committee asked to review salary threshold by UK Government

By Amanda Sanders (UK), Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) and Aida Geragusian on July 4, 2019 Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized

The Home Secretary has asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review future salary thresholds for the new immigration system which is due to come into force in January 2021.

As we mentioned in our blog post- The immigration white paper – what will it mean for the UK’s future immigration system? December 2018 – the Government’s proposals in its White Paper published in December 2018 are to adopt a new single skills-based immigration system. The proposed route for skilled workers will follow the Tier 2 of the Points Based System which already exists, but will be extended to achieve … Continue Reading

UK Employment law changes April 2019

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on March 29, 2019 Posted in General, UK, Uncategorized

Despite Brexit dominating the headlines there are several key changes to employment law coming into force in April 2019.

Extension of itemised pay statements to workers, not just employees – 6 April 2019

Currently, only employees are required to be given an itemised pay statement. From 6 April the Employment Rights Act (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) Order 2018 and the Employment Rights Act (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No 2) Order 2018 are due to come into force which will extend this right to include workers. In addition, employers will be required to itemise on payslips the number of hours … Continue Reading

Brexit – English Soccer and dispute over foreign players

By Nick Howard on November 23, 2018 Posted in UK, Uncategorized

Another interesting and unforeseen consequence of Brexit is the power struggle that has been triggered between the Premier League and the FA in relation to post Brexit quotas for “home grown” players and the visa requirements for overseas players.

The FA is seeking to use Brexit as an opportunity to boost the longer term health of the national team by reducing the number of overseas players in each squad. This is not proving popular with the Premier League which takes the view that a continued influx of high profile international players adds to the global appeal of the league.

Following … Continue Reading

Corporate Governance Reform – new disclosure requirements

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on June 22, 2018 Posted in UK, Uncategorized

Following on from it proposals for reform, which we reported on at the end of last year (Corporate Governance Proposals), the UK Government has now published draft regulations, (the draft Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018) . The draft regulations will implement some of the proposals, in particular in relation to holding larger companies to account for the salaries they pay and to consider employee representation.

Publication of CEO’s pay ratio: UK quoted companies with more than 250 UK employees will be required to publish the ratio of their CEO’s total remuneration to the median (50th), 25th and 75th

Norton Rose Fulbright’s online guide to global employment law is now available

By Sally Woodward and Joanna MacKenzie on February 15, 2018 Posted in Asia Pacific, Contracts, Data privacy and GDPR, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, South Africa, Uncategorized, United States, Whistleblowing

More and more organisations are growing their global footprint and need to move their people around the world. In this global environment, it is essential to know, understand and comply with employment and labour laws in place across all of the jurisdictions in which organisations engage people. This will help to protect business from unnecessary risk, whether legal, financial or reputational.

We have launched a new interactive online version of our Global employment law guide first published in 2015.

Featuring 28 jurisdictions, our interactive guide helps clients navigate the often disparate and diverse national employment and labour laws, in particular … Continue Reading