Justification and age discrimination; Changes to the Immigration Rules; Calls for evidence on workplace dismissal rules; Future of workplace relations; and Increases in national minimum wage.

EPB bulletin 49 - April and October are the key months of the year for employment law changes and there are a number of significant developments taking place this month.

EPB bulletin 48-In the recent Court of Appeal decision in Crawford and another v Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust [2012] the Court of Appeal held that procedural defects in a disciplinary process led to the unfair dismissal of two nurses accused of tying a patient to a chair.

Workplace trends 2012; Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council v Yerrakalva Court of Appeal 2011; Reluctance to disclose mental health problems; Charging fees in Employment Tribunals and the EAT; and Agency workers update.

EPB bulletin 47-New year resolutions may be broken already, the weather unpredictable and the economic climate difficult to predict but one thing at least is certain. There will be no let up in the pace of employment law changes in the year ahead.

EPB bulletin 46-The Bribery Act 2010, came into force on 1 July 2011 and we have now had the first prosecution and conviction under the Act. Munir Patel, a court clerk, has now been sentenced to three years imprisonment for bribery and six years for misconduct in a public office to be served concurrently. It is thought his misconduct lasted for over a year and involved at least 53 cases.

Overseas workers – what you need to know; Unfair dismissal - in the headlines again; Disability discrimination – what is a reasonable adjustment?; Economic uncertainty is leading to more workplace stress; and Gender pay guidance issued by ACAS.

On 12th September 2011, the EAT handed down judgment in Korashi v Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board UKEAT/0424/09, a case which the Appeal Tribunal described as “massive” and in which it held that “the time has come for the court system to draw a line under Dr Korashi’s ad hominem complaint”.

EPB bulletin 45-Yesterday’s announcement by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Chancellor George Osborne that the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal is to be extended from one to two years and the introduction of fees for bringing Employment Tribunal claims has certainly generated a great deal of media interest.

Take a look at our Q&A article on the new Agency Workers Regulations, published in Practice Nurse Journal - September 2011

EPB bulletin 44-The Annual Report 2010 to 2011, covering statistics specifically relating to Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, has just been published. This provides a great deal of useful information about the types of claims accepted by Employment Tribunals and the amount of compensation and costs awarded.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recently published its latest quarterly fatal injury statistics and the provisional number of workers fatally injured in 2010/11 is 171. This is consistent with an underlying downward trend over a number of years. In fact, the 2010/11 figure is 17% lower than the average of 205 deaths for the past five years.