Legal Practice Notes

Before the full hearing, the parties may decide to settle the issues raised by the appeal between them, or choose to withdraw the appeal altogether. The Practice Direction describes the procedure to be followed where an appellant seeks to withdraw, or where the parties agree the appeal ought to be allowed by consent. Alternative dispute resolution The Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) supports alternative dispute resolution and, in particular, the involvement of an Acas officer in appeals that appear amenable to conciliation. Its approach to conciliation is consistent with the following: its authority to take whatever steps it considers appropriate to enable parties to avail themselves of any opportunities for conciliation, whether by adjourning any proceedings or otherwise; and furthering the overriding objective, which includes: ensuring cases are dealt with...

This Practice Note This Practice Note explains how to lodge an appeal, detailing the required form and content of the Notice of Appeal, the permissible grounds, the documents that must be served with it, and any related applications. It also addresses the online route for electronic filing, namely the E‑ Filing service through the secure CE‑ File portal. The Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) Practice Direction 2024 ( EAT PD 2024) took effect on 1 February 2025, superseding the 2023 Practice Direction. It stipulates that anyone contemplating an appeal to the EAT must read and carefully consider sections 1 to 3 of the EAT PD 2024 before proceeding. Practitioners are required to ensure their clients also read and carefully consider those sections prior to submitting an appeal, as set out in those provisions......

Practice Note This Practice Note reviews the Employment ( Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 ( E( AT) A 2023), commencing on 1 October 2024. The Act places a legal duty on employers in all sectors to distribute to workers, with no deductions, every tip, gratuity and service charge they are paid, or over which they hold control or significant influence (qualifying tips), and to ensure the process is fair and transparent. E( AT) A 2023 is complemented by a statutory Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips and by non-statutory guidance (see: Code of Practice and guidance, below). For an example policy fully aligned with the requirements of E( AT) A 2023 and the Code of Practice, see Precedent: Policy—tips, gratuities and service charges......

This Practice Note sets out a summary of the key criminal offences linked to illegal working and considers practical issues when managing a criminal investigation and prosecution. For details on the civil penalty framework for illegal working, see Practice Note: Illegal working: dealing with a civil penalty. The scope of this Practice Note is limited to the law in England and Wales. While the primary focus is prosecution under section 21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 ( IANA 2006), for guidance on additional illegal working offences, see Other offences below. Be aware that the illegal working regime, including IANA 2006, s 21, is scheduled to be widened to include alternative working models that previously sat outside its reach, pursuant to a clause in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. See: LNB News 08/05/2025...

This Practice Note addresses the core obligations, covering risk assessments and the prevention of risk, health and safety arrangements, and the supply of information and training. It also considers the duties of employees and outside workers. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3242, establish a framework of employer duties aimed at preventing or reducing the likelihood of workplace accidents... Post 1 October 2013 From 1 October 2013, section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 ( ERRA 2013) took effect. For workplace accidents occurring on or after that date, civil liability no longer follows from a breach of a health and safety statutory duty unless the specific regulation provides for it. An exception persists under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3242, regs 16 and 17, which continue to impose civil...

Certain specified employees have the statutory right to make a request to undertake study or training This entitlement applies to employees working for organisations with 250 or more staff who meet the qualifying service requirement (see: Eligibility and qualifying period, below). Although the scheme was originally intended to be broadened to include smaller employers, the government deferred that step to allow further evaluation of the likely impact on small businesses, and there are currently no plans to proceed with any extension. The approach to counting the number of employees for these purposes is prescribed by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 ( Commencement No 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2010 ( Commencement No 2 Order 2010), SI 2010/303. For a pro-forma policy aligned with the statutory arrangements, see Precedent: Policy—time off work for study and training. Official guidance on this right can be...

IMPORTANT NOTE: The facility to issue tax‑favoured employee shareholder shares ( ESS), commonly seen in private equity company structures, has been withdrawn. In the Autumn Statement 2016, the government confirmed that the following ESS reliefs were removed: the income tax and National Insurance contributions ( NICs) relief that applied to the first £2,000 of ESS granted to an individual the capital gains tax ( CGT) exemption covering all or part of the ESS the measure ensuring that, when a company repurchases ESS from an employee shareholder, the consideration is not treated as a distribution in the shareholder’s hands These amendments apply to any employee shareholder agreements entered into on or after 1 December 2016. That said, an individual who obtained independent advice about entering an employee shareholder agreement before 23 November 2016 could still complete the agreement before 1 December 2016 and retain the favourable income tax and CGT...

This material examines the UK GDPR framework, with legislative references to Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation ( UK GDPR), unless expressly indicated otherwise. It also reflects the Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025 ( DUAA 2025) (see Practice Note: Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025—employment implications). Employers will typically need to process—collect, use and record—information about an individual’s health (health information) in various contexts. Before processing health information relating to a current or prospective employee or worker, the employer must assess whether the processing is lawful under Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 ( DPA 2018). In addition to the issues explored in this Practice Note, the employer should also consider: if the employer intends to obtain a medical report from an...

Workplace ‘ghosting’ This Practice Note examines workplace ‘ghosting’, where an employee or candidate accepts a role but fails to start, or stops attending and disappears without giving notice of resignation or termination. For guidance on situations where an employer ghosts a prospective employee or candidate, see Q& A: What issues arise when an employer ghosts a prospective employee? The expression ‘ghosting’ originates in online dating, where, at some point in a relationship, one person cuts off contact without explanation—so the other is ‘dumped’ without ever being told. In employment, a candidate or employee may ‘ghost’ at any stage—from skipping an interview, or not arriving on their first day, through to walking out at any time during the relationship and never returning. Indeed’s 2023 study, When Candidates and Recruiters Vanish: Indeed’s Ghosting in Hiring Report, found 46% of US job seekers surveyed believed ghosting had become more...

Duty of fidelity Every employee owes their employer a duty of fidelity. This duty is often described as a duty of good faith or loyalty. Fidelity is a wide notion, comprising several more specific obligations, some of which overlap with each other and with the duty of trust and confidence (see Practice Note: The term of trust and confidence): to act honestly—the duty requires employees deal with their employer truthfully (refer to: Duty of fidelity—honesty, below) not to compete—during employment, employees must not work for a rival organisation, including one they have founded (see: Duty of fidelity—competition and Duty of fidelity— Preparation to compete, below) not to secure a secret profit—employees must not earn undisclosed profit and must hand over to the employer any sums obtained (see: Duty of fidelity—secret profit, below) to disclose...

Practice Note This Practice Note provides a concise overview of employer-offered discounts and subsidies granted as employee perks, including subsidised meals, gym membership, and staff price reductions on goods and services. It examines whether these advantages contribute to calculating a week’s pay or the national minimum wage, and whether they attract protection from unlawful deduction. These benefits are not regarded as wages for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996, unless supplied as vouchers, stamps, or a document capable of being stated in monetary terms and redeemable for money, goods, or services......

This Practice Note outlines the matters an employer must weigh up when obtaining medical assessment reports for their staff and prospective recruits......

The rules regarding Scottish electronic documents and their execution are contained in: Requirements of Writing ( Scotland) Act 1995 ( RW( S) A 1995) Assimilated Regulation ( EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (as amended by the Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions ( Amendment etc) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2019) ( UK e IDAS) Land Registration etc ( Scotland) Act 2012 ( LRE( S) A 2012) Electronic Documents ( Scotland) Regulations 2014, SSI 2014/83 Land Registration etc ( Scotland) Act 2012 ( Commencement No 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2014, No 41 ( C 4) (2014 Order) Land Register of Scotland ( Automated Registration) etc Regulations 2014, SSI 2014/347 Legal Writings ( Counterparts and Delivery) ( Scotland) Act 2015 ( LW( CD)( S) A...

This Practice Note summarises how the Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) deals with a range of atypical or less commonly arising situations. Appeals relying on inadequacy of employment tribunal's reasons In numerous appeals, all or part of the challenge rests on claims that the employment tribunal’s written reasons are inadequate. A judge or the Registrar of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) may: invite the employment tribunal to clarify or add to its written reasons (or to provide written reasons if none have yet been issued) before the appeal is finally determined, and stay the appeal for a period—normally 21 days—pending any response to that invitation If the employment tribunal has omitted an issue in whole or in part, and/or has failed to give any, or adequate, reasons for a decision, the EAT can order the tribunal to answer specific questions, the replies to which may...

Judicial assessment is a type of alternative dispute resolution available to parties during employment tribunal proceedings, intended to steer them towards resolving their disagreement by consent. It is a voluntary, confidential and evaluative exercise conducted at an early point in the case, where an employment judge gives a provisional view on the parties’ respective strengths, weaknesses and litigation risks across their claims, allegations, contentions and any remedies pursued. The purpose of this early appraisal is to help the parties recognise the real issues and what is at stake, and to prompt settlement before positions harden and expenses escalate. It is also anticipated to aid the parties in refining and narrowing the matters requiring determination, producing a shorter, more targeted final hearing. This Practice Note sets out how judicial assessment operates. It draws on the Presidential Guidance on ADR, issued under rule 7 of the...

This Practice Note outlines the terms typically found in a partnership agreement for partnerships established under the Partnership Act 1890. It provides an overview of the statutory default rules that operate where no agreement exists, alongside the clauses commonly adopted in a partnership agreement. Partners are, in almost every case, advised to put a partnership agreement in place, so as to prevent the application of unsuitable default rules under the Partnership Act 1890 ( PA 1890), or to augment the statute where it does not go far enough. The PA 1890 expressly contemplates that all partners may, by unanimous consent, vary their statutory rights and obligations......

This Practice Note This Practice Note explores the legal and practical matters an employer should weigh up regarding domestic abuse, covering the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 ( DAA 2021) definition, who faces the greatest risk of domestic abuse, the potential warning signs, how domestic abuse can affect the workplace environment, ways an employer should address perpetrators, and the business case for providing workplace support to those suffering domestic abuse. It outlines core considerations for employers when determining the most effective support for individuals experiencing domestic abuse, such as what to include in a domestic abuse policy, fostering an open culture, practical assistance an employer can provide, the intersection between homeworking and domestic abuse, clear signposting to support services, appointing a domestic abuse or wellbeing champion, education and training initiatives, handling absence linked to domestic abuse and performance management of those affected, the role of...

This Practice Note explores a trade union member’s protection against unjustified discipline by their union at common law and under statute. Common law right Union members may only be disciplined in line with the union’s own rule book. In addition, unions should avoid arbitrary or capricious conduct and may need to observe natural justice before imposing sanctions. While statutory provisions also give members rights regarding union discipline, the common law route can be practically valuable: a court may grant a declaration or an injunction to stop disciplinary measures before they occur. These forms of relief are not available to enforce the statutory right. Even where a union’s rule book contains no express authority to discipline, a disciplinary power may, in some situations, be implied. Sometimes the rules attempt to stipulate that a member who considers they have been unfairly disciplined has no remedy other than to follow a...

This ‘ How to’ guide sets out how to plan and prepare for a disciplinary hearing or meeting, as part of a fair conduct management procedure. When potential misconduct arises, the first step is to carry out a disciplinary investigation. After it finishes, the investigator evaluates the evidence and determines whether there is a case to answer, namely that: the employer has a clearly articulated rule, policy, procedure or standard that rule, policy, procedure or standard may have been breached by the employee if proved, such a breach could reasonably be regarded by the employer as sufficiently serious to justify a disciplinary sanction (it is normally not sensible to proceed to a hearing if, even taken at its highest, the alleged misconduct is plainly too trivial to warrant any disciplinary response) If satisfied that this threshold is reached, the...

This Practice Note sets out the statutory, regulatory and corporate governance regime for directors’ remuneration reports (including the directors’ remuneration policy), together with related practical guidance. Law and regulation The Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) and the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups ( Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/410 (2008 Regulations) require the directors of a quoted company to produce, annually, a remuneration report disclosing specified particulars of directors’ remuneration. Under CA 2006, a quoted company is a UK company whose shares are either listed on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange, listed in an EEA state, or admitted to dealing on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. The AIM market, the AQSE Growth Market (formerly NEX Exchange Growth Market), and overseas companies are not within the directors’ remuneration reporting regulations......