Legal 500 2024 awards Hina Belitz, Partner and Joint Head of Employment Law at Excello Law, the accolade of Leading Individual again

  A huge thank you! I am honoured to be listed again by the Legal 500 as a Leading Individual and wish to extend a big ‘thank you’ to our clients. Your feedback is amazing. I am proud of the results my team and I achieve for employers and senior executives. We are armed and ready for another year of fighting to achieve amazing results for you…   Legal 500 client comments include:   ‘Hina Belitz is precise, knowledgeable and able to adapt to different situations and individuals. She manages to explain complex procedures in away that makes them…

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How should employers handle flexible working requests?

An employee whose flexible working request was refused by her employer has been unsuccessful in her Employment Tribunal claim against the decision, in which she alleged it was based on incorrect facts under s80H(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The case of Wilson v Financial Conduct Authority illustrates that flexible working is ultimately a discretionary matter for employers, but that decisions should nevertheless take into account the circumstances of the employee’s circumstances if they are to be justifiable. Following the easing of lockdown restrictions, the FCA reviewed their remote work policies so that 40% office attendance was the minimum…

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Should class be the tenth protected characteristic?

The protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 are the result of a consolidation of piecemeal legislation which developed to respond to the needs of those facing race, sex and disability discrimination, among others. There has been increasing interest in the notion of class discrimination, which raises the question: should class be protected under the Equality Act? The case for action is strong: social mobility in the UK is decreasing, and those from lower-class backgrounds suffer disadvantage in all areas of life, including education and work. From an employment perspective, access to ‘elite’ occupations such as law and medicine has…

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Removal of the live-in worker exemption to minimum wage

MPs have passed legislation removing a minimum wage exemption which many have criticised as exploitative. Contained within the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, this exemption applies to workers who live in the family home of their employer and who are treated as a member of the family in the context of accommodation, meals, tasks and leisure activities. It has been removed by the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2023, meaning that such individuals are entitled to the minimum wage from 1 April 2024 when the new minimum wage will also come into force. The ‘family and domestic worker’ exemption…

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When is a dismissal for failling to follow instructions unfair?

The EAT has found that an employee who was dismissed for failing to follow reasonable management instructions was unfairly dismissed. This case illustrates the importance of adequately communicating changes in workplace policy and following a fair disciplinary procedure in cases of misconduct. The claimant in Butler v Synergy Health UK Limited had worked for his employer, who sterilises and decontaminates medical equipment, for almost a decade. For 8 years, he had changed out of his PPE just before the end of his shifts. During a year-long absence, his employer changed policy so that staff were required to change out of…

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