Weekly Issue 656

Rise in women’s working hours

Although the length of the working week has been falling for the last 200 years, that trend is now in reverse (...).

Subjective belief

The law says that when bringing a complaint about making a protected disclosure (blowing the whistle), claimants have to show that they had a reasonable belief that it was made in the public interest. In Ibrahim v HCA International Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that, to establish this point, claimants have to be asked directly by the tribunal whether they subjectively believed they were acting in the public interest (...).

Poor performance

Under section 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, it is automatically unfair to dismiss a worker because they made a protected disclosure (blew the whistle). In Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti, the Supreme Court held that if a manager hides the real reason for dismissing someone, the reason for the dismissal is the hidden one rather than the one that was invented.