In 2019, the government consulted on various measures to support families. It has now responded to chapter one of that consultation – Parental leave and pay: Supporting parents and achieving equality – and announced changes to the statutory paternity leave regime to give fathers and partners more choice and flexibility around how and when they take their entitlement.

The EAT has confirmed that a decision to dismiss based on “tainted information” given by another individual to the decision-maker would not make the dismissal discriminatory unless the decision-maker themselves were motivated by the protected characteristic in question.

At first sight, the case of Webb v London Underground is a typical first instance unfair dismissal and race discrimination case. What is more interesting from an employment and privacy perspective is the employment tribunal’s findings in relation to Ms. Webb’s private Facebook posts.

On 17 March 2023, the government published an update on its progress in delivering its Inclusive Britain action plan that it published in March 2022. As part of that update, the government has published guidance for employers on how to take positive action to help people with protected characteristics overcome certain barriers and improve representation in their workforce without falling foul of the unlawful discrimination rules.

The government has published its response to the “Making flexible working the default” consultation that it ran last year, confirming that it will make the right to request flexible working a day one right.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has given some helpful guidance on what constitutes a valid job evaluation scheme for the purposes of bringing an equal pay claim under the Equality Act 2010.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that an original version of a grievance investigation report that did not attract legal advice or litigation privilege when it was drafted could not acquire privilege status retrospectively.

Following the government’s recent announcement, Parliament has approved the removal of the prohibition on businesses using temporary workers to cover staff taking part in industrial action and increased the maximum amount of damages that a court can award against a trade union for unlawful strike action. These changes became effective on 21 July 2022.

An employment tribunal has held that a claimant’s belief in ethical veganism that extended to taking positive action to reduce or prevent the suffering of animals, which included criminal conduct such as trespassing on private property to expose and remove suffering animals, was not a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.

The government has announced that it is proposing to make changes to trade union law that will remove the current prohibition on businesses using temporary workers to cover staff taking part in industrial action. It has also announced that it plans to quadruple the maximum amount of damages that a court can award against a trade union for unlawful strike action from GBP 250,000 to GBP 1 million. These changes will need to be approved by Parliament.