Employment law brief: 14 April 2016

The four Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) cases considered this time reflect a common mixture in employment law of ancient and modern. The first three concern longstanding issues in basic individual employment law, namely: (i) the relationship between constructive dismissal and overall unfairness; (ii) how a tribunal should deal with a sickness case where the allegation is that the employee has been indulging in an unacceptable element of lead-swinging; and (iii) returning to constructive dismissal, how it should be applied in a redundancy (as opposed to unfair dismissal) context. The fourth case, however, concerns a very modern concept, namely salary sacrifice schemes, and how they fit into existing law. The particular issue, on which there has been some speculation recently, was whether childcare benefits supplied under such a scheme continue to accrue during maternity leave. The EAT, holding that they do not, considers the essential nature of such schemes and holds that they constitute “remuneration” for statutory purposes. This is an interesting