Wg Employment - Amazon AWS

WE LOVE CHRISTMAS SONGS Apart from Little Jimmy Osmond’s

WE WON MEGHAN! UK scores the first Christmas with Ms Markle

THE PROBLEM WITH NICENESS Why you’ve got to be straight with your staff

Your weekly bulletin of wit & wonder in the world of…

Wg Employment Issue 580/December 2017 You don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing you need. You don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree… All you really want is Mariah Carey singing All I Want For Christmas Is You. There’s no point in denying it. An official study by Glasgow University has PROVEN it to be true. Using download and streaming data from the past 9 years, specifically in the five weeks up to December 25, the truth is out. Here’s the UK’s top in tenthe favourite Christmas five weeks up to songs: December 25, the truth is out. Here’s the top ten list of the UK’s favourite Christmas songs: 6. Merry Christmas Everyone – Shakin’ Stevens 1. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey 7. Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid 2. Fairytale Of New York – The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl 8. Driving Home for Christmas – Chris Rea 3. Last Christmas – Wham! 9. It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas – Michael Bublé 4. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day – Wizzard 10. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee 5. Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade I could go on but I do think it’s WRONG. Instead of coming in at No 13, Coldplay’s Christmas Lights should definitely be Number One. What does give me hope for humanity, though, is that I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause, gurgled by Little Jimmy Osmond, is nowhere to be seen. Even Jimmy Osmond must want to wrench his own vocal chords out with a fork when he hears that one. But I must admit, the Christmas songs do make me feel festive when I’m out and about Christmas shopping these days. I can listen to them for up to half an hour before I start to twitch and whimper. A few years ago it would have taken about 12 minutes. Maybe I’m getting more mellow as my half century approaches. Or maybe my hearing’s not what it was…

You’re too kind And speaking of excessive giving brings me to the case of Rawlinson v Brightside Group Ltd and a lesson that kindness can lead to tribunal claims. Mr Rawlinson joined Brightside Group Ltd as Group Legal Counsel in December 2014. When Mr Wallin was appointed as CEO of Brightside in January 2015, he expressed concerns with Mr Rawlinson’s performance and started an internal investigation. Mr Rawlinson was aware that senior management had concerns which needed to be addressed, but the details were not shared with him. When the internal investigation concluded in March, Mr Wallin decided that Mr Rawlinson’s position was untenable because of the issues with his performance. Brightside intended, in due course, to hand Mr Rawlinson his three months’ notice, and for him to work out this period in order to hand over to his replacement - but Mr Rawlinson was not informed of the intention to dismiss. By May, Mr Wallin became frustrated with the lack of contingency planning and relayed his concerns to Mr Rawlinson’s line manager, Mr Johnston. In a meeting, Mr Johnston informed Mr Rawlinson that Brightside had reviewed its approach to managing its legal service requirements and he would no longer be working for Brightside. In order to ‘soften the blow’ he was told in the future legal advice was going to be outsourced. Mr Rawlinson was then handed his three months’ notice and told his dismissal would be confirmed in writing.

EVENT SEASON 2017 th

We closed our 2017 events on the 30 November with our Digital Dilemmas seminar…and what a morning it was! Not one to rest for a moment, we’re now planning our events for 2018! If you have any topics you’d like us to cover in our seminars or masterclasses in 2018, email [email protected]

Peace of Mind Do you want to save your business time and money, and reduce stress?

But Mr Rawlinson took the view that the outsourcing of Brightside’s legal services meant under TUPE regulations he would begin working for the law firm that Brightside was outsourcing to. As the work was not going to be outsourced Brightside refused to give the name of the law when asked by Mr Rawlinson. Mr Rawlinson considered this a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence in employment contracts and stated that he would not work his notice period. After his employment was terminated Mr Rawlinson submitted a Data Subject Access Request which informed him of the real reason behind his dismissal. Mr Rawlinson issued a claim against Brightside at the Employment Tribunal for constructive wrongful dismissal. The Tribunal rejected Mr Rawlinson’s TUPE claim, finding that there was no relevant transfer. With regards to the contract-based claim, it found that Brightside’s failure to forewarn Mr Rawlinson of any performance concerns and the potential for dismissal did not amount to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

“They’re local, they’re approachable, they’re friendly and the Peace of Mind programme is very much tailored to your needs” Contact us today on 02380 717717 or email [email protected] to find out how Peace of Mind can help your business.

Mr Rawlinson appealed, arguing that Brightside were under a duty to act in good faith and not mislead him. The EAT noted that Brightside’s approach to informing Mr Rawlinson about his dismissal had been consistent with an intention to maintain trust and confidence: it wanted the relationship to continue for the notice period. However, they concluded that the implied duty of trust and confidence included an obligation not to deliberately mislead employees. The EAT therefore found in favour of Mr Rawlinson’s dismissal claim. Employers, do note - you may think you’re helping by not telling an employee the real reason for a dismissal but this badly directed kindness can have unintended consequences.

Merry Marklemas Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m very relieved that Megan Markle will be spending Christmas at ours. When I say ‘ours’, I mean, in Norfolk with the Queen and the rest of the royals. Not over at ‘hers’ in America. I wouldn’t normally claim Norfolk as ‘ours’ but its close enough when the fiancée is from America. UK: 1 - US: 0

Are you following us on Facebook? If you haven’t liked us already, follow the link below…

It’s a Yuletide tug of love. Girlfriends usually score the first Christmas Day, while the parents of sons must stare wistfully at their boy’s unexplored stocking and wonder what went wrong. Our eldest daughter is at ours with her boyfriend this Christmas - a MAJOR coup at the Whitemore Mansion. And next year..? Well, I’m willing to negotiate. But his family had better be prepared… I’m a lawyer after all… (*Mwahahah!*) And speaking of those precious Christmas hours – here are our closing times. So you can prepare for how you’ll get by without us… Our offices will be closed from 5.00pm on Friday 22nd December 2017 and will re-open at 9.00am on Tuesday 2nd January 2018.

…and after liking us on Facebook, why not follow us on Twitter?

Contact the team Sarah Whitemore (Partner) – 02380 717462 Howard Robson (Partner) – 02380 717718 Lisa Joyce (Associate) – 02380 717447 Emma Kemp (Associate) – 02380 717486 Natalie Rawson (Solicitor) – 02380 717403 DISCLAIMER While every effort is made to ensure that the contents of these diaries are up -to-date and accurate, no warranty is given to that effect and Warnergoodman does not assume responsibility for their accuracy and correctness. The diaries are provided free of charge and for information purposes only. Readers are warned that the diaries are no substitute for legal advice given after consideration of all material facts and circumstances by an experienced employment lawyer. Therefore, reliance should not be placed upon the legal points explained in these diaries or the commentary upon them.

UNSUBSCRIBE If you do not wish to receive future editions of this newsletter, please simply reply to this e-mail and include the word

Simply click on the logo to start following us and see our daily updates.

COPYING THESE DIARIES ON TO OTHERS While the author retains all rights in the copyright to these diaries, we are happy for you to copy them on to others who might be interested in receiving them on a regular basis, provided Warnergoodman is acknowledged as the publisher of the diaries and provided those persons register directly with ourselves, so that we are able to send future editions to them direct. No charge will be made for doing so. Alternatively, simply send us the e-mail contact details for anyone who wishes to receive the diary and we will be happy to add them to the circulation list. Unless expressly agreed by Warnergoodman in writing, nobody has authority to copy or use these diaries, or extracts from them, for any promotional or commercial purposes.