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19 January 2024 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8055 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 19 January 2024

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The end of 2023 brought a blizzard of new legislation & some thorny EAT decisions. Ian Smith sweeps through them with gusto
  • The ACAS Code of Practice uplift.
  • The relevance of delay in constructive dismissal.
  • Employers’ policy in sickness dismissal.

December saw a flurry of employment-related legislation. This was partly to preserve certain EU-derived provisions that may have lapsed on the ending of EU law interpretation at the end of 2023, partly to flesh out the new provisions on minimum service levels during strikes (which are only just starting to prove controversial politically) and partly to transform requesting flexible working into a day-one right (see Harvey, Bulletin 546). In addition, we have seen three Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decisions addressing three common but not always easy areas of law, namely: the statutory uplift of compensation for not following the ACAS Code of Practice; affirmation of contract in constructive dismissal cases; and the relevance of an employer’s policy in a sickness dismissal case. In each, the judgment adds some important

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