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Reps' information service: February

3 February 2010

An update about recent cases, tribunals, and useful reports and links, from our reps' information service.

Tribunals and cases

In Dansie v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, the employment appeals tribunal (EAT) upheld a tribunal decision to dismiss a sex discrimination claim by a male trainee police officer who was required to get his hair cut.

In Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets v Wooster, the EAT upheld a finding that the redundancy dismissal of a 49-year-old employee amounted to age discrimination. The tribunal was entitled to find the employer could have found alternative work for him, but that it had failed to do so because it was concerned that, if he remained employed up to the age of 50, he would be entitled to a more generous early retirement package.

In OCS Group UK Ltd v Jones and another, the EAT held that a tribunal had not erred in law in deciding that the activities carried out after a catering contract was taken over by a new contractor were substantially different from the activities carried out by the previous contractor, so there could be no TUPE transfer.

In the case of EBR Attridge Law LLP (formerly Attridge Law) and another v Coleman, the EAT upheld an employment judge’s decision that the Disability Discrimination Act is capable of being interpreted in accordance with the EU equal treatment framework directive to protect people who suffer discrimination because of their association with a disabled person.

In Howard v Siemens Energy Services, the employment tribunal agreed that an employee’s dismissal for redundancy was unfair in circumstances where the selection criteria included assessment of employees’ adherence to company ‘values’. Although including values as a selection criterion was not itself unreasonable, the way in which it was assessed lacked objectivity and transparency, particularly as evidence showed that the values had not been universally adopted within the company.

Reports and publications

Research from the Mental Health Foundation, 'Returning to Work: The role of depression', found almost half of those employees off work due to a physical condition experienced mild to moderate depression when returning to work, but were more worried about telling their employer about their mental issues than their physical illness.

A new report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and Active Health Partners, that says mental ill health is the second largest cause of time lost due to sickness absence in UK organisations with stress, depression and anxiety accounting for over 50% of these mental health problems.

A report by the Employers’ Forum on Disability describes what employers and government could do differently that would make it easier to recruit people with mental health problems.

Only half of departments' efficiency savings are based firmly in reality, the chief auditor has warned. Close examination of Home Office and the Department for Transport figures supplied to the National Audit Office has found that only around half of the savings identified are verifiable.

A recent TUC report sets out the scale of the ‘union advantage' – the positive benefits that unions bring to individual workers, the organisations that employ them and the broader community.

Mental health online

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has guidance for employers on promoting mental well-being through productive and healthy working conditions.

Since the Mindful Employer initiative was launched in 2004, almost 600 employers have signed a charter for employers who are positive about mental health.

The ‘Health, work and well-being’ pages of the Acas website include advice about mental health issues.

The Health and Safety Executive website has a section on ‘Stress and mental health at work’, which includes guidance for managers.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has a comprehensive factsheet about mental health at work that gives introductory guidance.

The Time to Change Campaign is running a new project to confront the stigma and discrimination that people with experience of mental health problems face in the workplace.

For more information about any of these cases and reports, contact our reps' information service:

 

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