Employment

Being told to "grow up" does not amount to discrimination at work, a tribunal in England has ruled after a teenage hairdresser sued her employer. Jasmine Stunell, a hairdressing apprentice, was also told to “pull herself together”. She quit her job at the boutique salon and brought claim

The High Court has determined that the legal costs of an employment injunction application should be costs in the cause after the motion was rendered unnecessary. The plaintiff had sought to be reinstated by his employer following his suspension on full pay during an ongoing investigation. However,

A suite of hate crime guides for use in the workplace have been published by Northern Ireland's Department of Justice after being developed in collaboration with the Labour Relations Agency. The three separate guides offer practical support in circumstances where a member of staff becomes a victim o

Anonymous reporting through a helpline or smartphone app could help tackle workplace sexual harassment in Ireland, according to a new research discussion paper. The paper summarises research conducted by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), with contributions from A&L Goodbody and solicitor M&aacut

Two-thirds of HR professionals believe that some employees will simply refuse to return to the workplace following the Covid-19 pandemic, a new survey by business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran LLP suggests. Over 200 HR professionals from both the public and private sectors were surveyed at a rec

Employment lawyers Richard Grogan and Natasha Hand consider a recent high-profile case in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) concerning age discrimination. The issue of age discrimination issue arose in case ADJ-00027325, which has obtained a reasonable amount of publicity, where the employee

Barry Walsh, head of Fieldfisher Ireland's employment department, comments on a recent case involving disability discrimination. Employers are often asked by employees to provide references for future would-be employers or for internal promotion competitions. Many employers are reluctant to do so an

EU rules giving workers the right to "transparent and predictable" working conditions will be transposed into Irish law through primary legislation under plans now out for consultation. Ireland is required to transpose EU Directive 2019/1152 into Irish law by August 2022, though some of its provisio

Lisa Bryson, partner and head of employment at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, considers where employers in Northern Ireland stand in relation to the "return to the office". As we approach the autumn, minds will inevitably turn to the final quarter of 2021 and many will begin thinking about next ye

A prominent lawyer has warned employers to take care around mandatory retirement ages after a nurse was awarded €85,000 in compensation after being forced to retire at the age of 66. Richard Grogan, partner at Richard Grogan & Associates Solicitors in Dublin, told The Times that the "days o

Niall Pelly, partner and head of GQ|Littler in Dublin, considers what the remote working landscape will look like after the Covid-19 pandemic. The Irish government has recently announced that it plans to provide employees with the right to request remote working. As many employers turn their mind to

Lisa Bryson, partner and head of employment law at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, warns employers to be aware of the potential issues around vaccines. The issue of mandatory vaccines in the workplace has provoked lots of discussion, debate and concern. Tech giants Google and Facebook have told th

An increasing number of women are bringing cases to the Employment Tribunal which cite menopause as the reason for unfair dismissal and direct sex discrimination. New data show that there were five tribunals that detailed the claimant's menopause in 2018, six in 2019 and 16 in 2020. This year has al

An employer has been described as "incredibly stupid" by an employment law expert after the company used emojis to communicate important workplace issues. At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, a joinery manufacturing company was forced to shut down on a temporary basis and staff were offe

Three security companies have brought a High Court challenge aimed at setting aside a ministerial order that would see many working in the industry receive increased pay. The action is over the State's intention to bring in a new employment regulation order for the security industry, which was appro