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Praesidium Employment Law Protection has been developed by a national network of legal practices, incorporating teams of specialist employment law solicitors.

The concept of Praesidium is to provide the employer with a time-saving, expert, easy-to-use and up-to-date, management package covering all aspects of employment, from recruitment to termination.

The secure website provides the employer with a user-friendly downloadable library of documents which includes policies & procedures, forms & records, and step-by-step guides. These detailed guides assist the employer in managing all aspects of employment including disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Additionally, the service can be supported with a 24-hours employment law advice line providing employers with direct access to specialist employment law solicitors.

To complete the programme, employers have the option of insurance protection of up to £50,000 per claim to meet the cost of legal representation and any compensation awards - in the event of employment tribunal action.

For further information about Praesidium please contact us

Praesidium Alerts

1 October 2008

There are relatively few employment law changes introduced in October of this year. The most significant ones are as follows:

National Minimum Wage

  • The rates of pay increase from 1 October 2008.
  • The principal rate, for adult workers, increases from £5.52 to £5.73 per hour.
  • For workers aged between 18 and 21 the rate increases from £4.60 to £4.77 per hour.
  • For workers above the compulsory school age and below the age of 18 the rate increases from £3.40 to £3.53 per hour.

Maternity Leave

The changes expected since April 2008, that during additional maternity leave women are entitled to the same terms and conditions to which they are entitled in ordinary maternity leave, come into force for women whose expected week of childbirth (EWC) begins on or after 5 October 2008.

Agency Workers

From 27 October 2008 agency worker are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay from the commencement of their contract whereas previously, this entitlement could be excluded where the duration of the contract was for less than three months. 

24 September - Heyday Appeal – Advocate General's Opinion

Advocate General Mazak, one of the senior legal advisers to the European Court of Justice, gave his opinion yesterday in the Heyday appeal brought by the charity “Age Concern”. The claim was brought by the charity challenging the age discrimination regulations in the UK, relating to the issues of:

  1. the lawfulness of dismissing employees on the ground of retirement once they are 65 or over;
  2. the lawfulness of having a “justification defence”, and if discrimination relating to age can be potentially justified in all circumstances; and
  3. if there are any practical differences between the defences of justification for direct and indirect age discrimination.

The Advocate General has effectively recommended that the ECJ dismiss Age Concern's appeal, his reasoning being:

  1. dismissing for retirement once an employee is aged 65 is not in principle unlawful if it can be objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim relating to employment policy and the labour market;
  2. that a general justification is a lawful defence and it is not necessary for the age regulations to define specific categories of conduct that can be justified; and
  3. that there are no practical differences between the defences of justification for direct and indirect age discrimination.

The Advocate General's opinion is a not binding recommendation to the full Court of Justice, and although the court will usually follow this decision, all cases at Tribunal relating to the lawfulness of the current retirement age of 65 will be stayed until the full decision is handed down by the court just before Christmas.

If the opinion is followed by the full court then national courts will need to decide if the retirement age of 65 can be objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim. It will also mean that employers will be able to continue directly and indirectly discriminating on the grounds of an employee's ages if the treatment can be legally justified by a legitimate aim.

3 June 2008 – ECJ early hearing date for Heyday

Charity Heyday, part of Age Concern, will dispute the legal retirement age of 65 at the European Court of Justice on 2 July. It had originally been given a hearing date in 2009.

If the challenge is successful, many employees who were made to retire at 65 could claim age discrimination, with many already putting claims on the record in case the UK government loses.

10 June 2008 – UK to be allowed to continue with 48-hour opt out

The EU Employment Council announced this morning that the UK will be allowed to continue permitting employees to opt-out of the 48-hour maximum average working week.

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