Thursday January 28, 2010 at 11:54am
There is an interesting employment law case which has obtained a great deal of interest in the human resources and legal press.
Public sector employees may have the right to bring a lawyer to all disciplinary hearings should their dismissal prevent them from working in their profession in future. A Court of Appeal decision published last week has opened up the issue as to whether employees have the right to legal representation at internal disciplinary hearings. The case involved a music a....
Monday January 25, 2010 at 9:28am
According to press reports the TUC will continue to help negotiations between British Airways and Unite. It appears the first walk out from staff will take place from 1st March 2010.
I have previously written about the dispute.
Quite frankly there are a number of fundamental flaws in the approach to negotiation which make it more difficult for the parties to settle.
These include:
1 Less is more. The parties are involved in continious and never-ending negotiati....
Friday January 22, 2010 at 10:18am
As a lawyer and mediator there are always on the web some great online resouces to consider.
Some of the best mediation blogs include Settle It Now and Mediation Channel.
Also on the blogs is respected mediator, Amanda Bucklow who also identifies on her blog that she recommends reading The New Lawyer: How Settlement is Transforming the Practice of Law by Julie Macfarlane.
As the preamble to this book observes, the image of the adversarial "client warrior" dominates historical notio....
Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 12:01pm
As has been reported, an NHS manager was reecently awarded thousands of pounds in compensation after bullying at the hospital where she worked led her to suffer a nervous breakdown. Briefly, Nanette Bowen alleged she had been harassed over a three-year period at Llanelli’s Princess of Wales Hospital. Earlier this year a civil case at Swansea County Court decided her employers were to blame for her health problems. She will be awarded £150,000 in compensation. The 55-year-old, fr....
Tuesday January 19, 2010 at 3:31pm
Despite the increased interest of mediation within employment lawyers, human resource professionals and their clients, there is still resistance to the use of mediation.
A lot of this can be underpinned by ignorance or lack of experience in use of mediation. One leading employment lawyer told me that he would like to refer matters to mediation but the clients are very resistant.
In addition, there is still a lack of legal incentive to use mediation. The Gibbons Review does represent ....
Sunday January 17, 2010 at 9:37pm
There have been some intriguing reports in the PR/Media press recently with Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law, Matthew Freud delivering a public attack on Fox News output and in particular,one of Murdoch's key Fox employees, Roger Ailes.
Freud said that he was "shamed and sickened" by Fox's journalistic standards and he targeted Ailes in particular.
Roger Ailes is the closest and one of Murdoch's key employees; According to the Guardian on Saturday he earned even more m....
Friday January 15, 2010 at 1:45pm
One third of UK employees say they have not felt appreciated by their employer during the recession and would leave for another job if they could, according to a poll of around 950 workers commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Of those respondents who said their employer had shown appreciation for them in the downturn, 41% said they had no plans to leave as a consequence of this loyalty while just 23% said they would consider leaving regardless. The findings illustrate the huge potentia....
Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 9:33pm
The discussion about legal costs continues. Lord Jackson is due to publish his report later today on his proposals for re-shaping the legal costs environment.
Overall there has been some separate discussion about the solicitors hourly rate within some of the legal press and national press.
The solicitors' hourly rate has received criticism, not least of which because it can promote inefficiency. The central flaw is that it can encourage waste.
Nevertheless despite its flaws, the hourly rate w....
Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 11:24am
Despite the absence of fanfare, Employment Judicial Mediation does sometimes become an issue for the employment lawyer or human resources professional.
It is now on potential offer in every single Employment Tribunal.
The scheme was piloted in Newcastle, Birmingham and London Central during 2006-07. It was introduced throughout England and Wales in January 2009 and was formally launched in Scotland in June 2009.
To recap it can be offered to the disputing parties in an ....
Monday January 11, 2010 at 11:33am
The British Airways/Unite dispute rumbles on with Unite seeking a new ballot which will start on 22nd January.
At this point, it is the trade union on the defensive with its failed attempt to strike over the Christmas period and the fact that it is looking just plain stupid and greedy in the current economic environment.
When I mediate any dispute one of the elements which can be present is the inherent need of one or both of the parties for the dispute to continue.
W....
Saturday January 9, 2010 at 11:36am
So according to press reports today, we read that Baroness Greenfield is going to sue the Royal Institution for sexual discrimination.
Do not necessarily believe what you are reading as it appears both the employer and the employee are in a briefing war.
In addition, it appears that Baroness Greenfield was only served with redundancy papers(initial consultation?) the day before, the Friday, and has only just instructed lawyers then and has made an immediate decision to sue for sexua....
Friday January 8, 2010 at 4:18pm
There is an excellent article on the divorce Woolley & Co site, written by Andrew Woolley.
He writes about the future landcape for law firms and observes that the opening of competion could have the following impact with the required response.
"This could lead to up to 70 per cent of law firms disappearing, based on the impact of past similar changes in the financial and insurance sectors. Firms need to be buying in expertise to help with things like business managemen....
Friday January 8, 2010 at 11:44am
According to recent press reports, a senior member of the Chinese negotiation team at the Copenhagen cliamate talks has been removed from his post.
The person in question is He Yafei and the source of the information is the Xinhau newsagency.
Oh to blame someone after a failed negotiation. I have seen it many times and the Chinese who always run the risk of being the villains are in the frame.
The allegations against the negotiatior include:
1 He was rude to the US n....
Wednesday January 6, 2010 at 1:41pm
There has been some interesting articles in the National Press on the subject of bullying in the clergy and the involvement of the union, Unite. The Times had a good piece yesterday.
A bishop is among the 150 clergy and ministers who have sought protection with the trade union Unite from what it describes as a culture of bullying in the established Church. Most of those who have sought help are in the Church of England but Roman Catholic priests, rabbis and imams have also joined Unite, ac....