Motor Industry Legal Services

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to the winter edition of the MILS employment law email bulletin.

As this bulletin is being drafted we have just emerged from the big freeze of 2010. Whilst the country ponders whether or not stockpiling road salt may have been more sensible in the autumn than swine flu vaccine, employers surveying the horizon for the next threat to their profits are, as ever, wise to keep up-to-date with the latest changes in employment law. As snowed-in employees return to work complaining of depleted pay packets, we can slowly turn our attention to other matters.

This season there has been a number of interesting cases developing the law on discrimination and accordingly we will be looking at the following; an employment appeal decision on dress codes, a ruling on the comparability of IVF treatment and pregnancy, an interesting case dealing with the difficult and often contradictory protections for religious belief and sexual orientation and finally a helpful clarification on the rules relating to risk assessments for pregnant workers.

More details can be found on the MILS website for those of you interested in developments.

Finally and for the first time ever, in response to the recession, the Government’s annual review of compensation limits has (we are pleased to report) resulted in an (albeit minimal) reduction to the maximum compensatory award limit in Unfair Dismissal. From 1 February 2010 the maximum compensatory award drops from £66,200 to £65,300.

Please note: in this bulletin we aim to keep you up-to-date on some of the latest developments in employment law and although the bulletin is not intended to provide a comprehensive summary of all the changes to the law, we hope to highlight some key areas of change for motor industry employers.

Employment Team
	Head of Legal Department and Commercial Barristers Team Christopher Baylis - Barrister BA (Hons) LLM, MTH MPhil MBA (Trinity Hall) Cambridge University
	Head of Employment Henry Knill - Solicitor MA (Robinson College) Cambridge University

	Summary of Key Developments Dansie v Metropolitan Police An employment appeal decision on dress codes. Read More Sahota v Home Office A ruling on the comparability of IVF treatment and pregnancy. Read More Ladele v London Borough of Islington An interesting case dealing with the difficult and often contradictory protections for religious belief and sexual orientation. Read More O'Neill v Buckinghamshire County Council A helpful clarification on the rules relating to risk assessments for pregnant workers. Read More