This is the first E-Alert from the Employment Department at Davenport Lyons. We hope you find the content interesting and informative and it should not take more than 2 minutes to read. There have been two interesting developments over the past month:

Legislation: As of 1 October 2007, all "workers" (not just employees) have been entitled to 4.8 weeks of paid annual leave each year - equating to 24 days for a worker who works 5 days per week. This entitlement includes the UK's 8 statutory bank holidays and will rise to 5.6 weeks (or 20 + 8) on 1 April 2009.

This change will especially affect our clients who engage agency workers, hourly paid employees and seasonal workers. It will not affect clients who are offering at least 16 + 8 days holiday for their existing staff. Any clients affected by this change need to inform their staff in writing of the increased holiday entitlement, either through a letter to staff or a statement on pay slips.

Case Law: The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld a claim for constructive unfair dismissal on behalf of a former employee who resigned in protest because the positions she was being offered following her return from maternity leave were not suitable. Her old position had been declared redundant during her maternity leave. There is a positive duty on employers to offer returning women "suitable and available" vacancies if their position has become redundant during their maternity leave. Failure to do so will constitute a "detriment" under the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 and leave employers open to facing a claim under these Regulations and a separate claim for sex discrimination.