The Employment Conference at Scots Law 2022

Employment law continues to be a busy area of practice, as employers and employees have faced unprecedented challenges over the past two years.

Chaired by the Head of Brodies’ Employment and Immigration team Tony Hadden, our new online Employment Conference will field a panel of experts who will look at the evolution of employment law to faces these challenges with topics ranging from restructuring the workplace, dealing with mental ill health, managing workplace investigations and harassment to industrial action, immigration, employment contracts and settlement agreements.

Questions to be considered will include:

• what do you need to know about industrial action?
• what are the protections from harassment in the workplace under the Equality Act 2010?
• what is the law underpinning the redundancy process?
• how do you navigate the legal minefield of mental health in the workplace?
• when and why might you need to ask for changes to a settlement agreement?
• what are some of the key aspects when looking at employment contracts?
• how do you plan and implement workplace investigations?
• what are the recent changes to the UK Immigration rules?

What's being covered?

Navigating the legal minefield of mental health in the workplace

Increasing numbers of people report experiencing mental health issues. While many employers nowadays try to embrace a positive approach to mental health, it is still an area which undeniably presents legal challenges for HR and employment lawyers when dealing with cases in practice.

Gillian MacLellan, CMS

Harassment in the workplace

The UK has had legislation making harassment unlawful towards employees, workers and job applicants for many years, the latest protections being in the Equality Act 2010. Recently, complaints about workplace harassment have never been far from the headlines. Katy will talk about the protections from harassment in the workplace under the Equality Act 2010; how employers should approach defending Employment Tribunal claims, recent case developments, and the Government’s consultations and plans to strengthen the protections.

Katy Wedderburn, MacRoberts

Ten things you need to know about industrial action 

In this session we will: reflect on a “summer of discontent” and the current industrial relations climate; look at strikes and industrial action short of strike; provide a guide to the notification and balloting regime; consider The Trade Union Act 2016 – better democracy or reigning in the right to strike?; and discuss law reform and the use of agency workers to break strikes.

David Morgan, Burness Paull LLP

Redundancy and restructuring

This session will focus on the law underpinning the redundancy process ensuring that delegates are confident in advising clients on how to approach a redundancy situation. We will consider the meaning of redundancy; the obligations to consult both individually and collectively and how the obligation to behave reasonably impacts on the process to follow. We will step through a typical redundancy process and then look at some "hot topics" in redundancy including the treatment of those on maternity leave (Reg 10); preferential redeployment for certain employees and ways in which discrimination issues can impact on a redundancy process.

Tony Hadden, Brodies

Advising individuals on settlement agreements: top tips and tactics

This presentation will cover: top tips on what advice on settlement agreements to individuals should cover; when and why you might need to ask for changes to the agreement; what can be done to conclude negotiations promptly; and what issues come up when advising senior employees and executives, and how our advice as lawyers can shape their next steps.

Hayley Johnson, Morton Fraser

Employment contracts – some key aspects

In this session we will consider employment contracts from formation, identifying contractual terms (including implied terms) and managing the interplay with policies and discretion.

Sarah Jackman, Dentons

Business immigration: an update for employment lawyers

Over the last 12 months, there have been a number of changes to the UK Immigration rules and rules on right to work checks. Having an awareness of these changes is valuable to employment lawyers particularly when advising on recruitment policies and indirect discrimination risk, as well as preventing illegal working and right to work risks. In this session, we will cover the new visa categories that employment lawyers should know about, including the new Global Business Mobility, High Potential Individual and Scale-Up Visa Routes, as well as changes to the right work rules, including the introduction of the Digital Identity Service Checks and the end of the COVID-19 measures.

Erin McLafferty, Brodies

Managing workplace investigations

This session will look at planning and implementing workplace investigations. It is recommended viewing for those who advise on investigations in the context of disciplinary, grievance and performance management processes. It will provide delegates with: an understanding the legal risks associated with workplace investigations including guidance on the application of the ACAS Code of Practice; guidance on how to gather and assess witness evidence and documents and how to present investigation findings; and an understanding of how to navigate issues of privilege and confidentiality in the context of investigations.

Katie Russell, Burges Salmon