Employment Law News 

A round up of the employment law news for the week commencing 22nd October 2018.

Clamp down on Personal Service Companies (known as PSC’s)

There are reportedly plans afoot in the Treasury to change current tax rules that enable individuals to avoid higher tax and national insurance contributions by working through a “personal service company”.

The aim of the changes is to try and prevent the use of personal service companies as a vehicle where the individual providing the services is not genuinely self employed and should be on the payroll.

ACAS report high early conciliation quarterly statistics

Compared to the same quarter last year, ACAS statistics on the early conciliation (EC) service from April to June 2018 show an increase of 53% in the number of early conciliation notifications received. The figures also show an increase in the number of claims proceeding to an employment tribunal.

Court of Appeal allows out-of-time appeals to proceed after judgement sent to the wrong address

The Court of Appeal recently heard two joined cases on whether or not a party should be allowed to appeal out of time where the tribunal has sent its decision to the wrong address.

In both cases, the tribunal had sent its written reasons to the former representatives of the employees who had made the claims with the result that both employees ended up submitting their appeals after the 42-day deadline had passed.

Lord Justice Underhill held that the decisions had still been “sent to the parties” even though they had gone to the wrong address and therefore the appeals had not been made in time. However, he went on to say that the parties should not have to suffer because of the tribunal’s mistake and ruled that the court could use its discretion to extend the time limit.

The employees were accordingly given 42 days from the date they eventually received the decision to appeal.

The moral of this case ….. if you are expecting a judgment or written reasons from a Tribunal and are intending to appeal, don’t delay! Call the Tribunal, find out whether or not the decision has been sent out and check they have your correct details.

Case reference: Rana v London Borough of Ealing & Anor [2018] EWCA Civ 2074

Please feel free to leave a comment, question or observation below. Alternatively get in touch directly: hello@realemploymentlawadvice.co.uk

This article was written and researched by Miranda Amos, Solicitor at our Salisbury office 

 Don’t forget getting advice from a Solicitor does not have to be complicated or costly!

Photo by Kelsey Chance on Unsplash