{"id":1925,"date":"2016-07-22T10:05:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T10:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2016-07-22T10:05:37","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T10:05:37","slug":"brexit-thoughts-for-employers-in-the-evolving-aftermath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/brexit-thoughts-for-employers-in-the-evolving-aftermath\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit \u2013 thoughts for employers in the evolving aftermath"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the development?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

As we all know, the UK has voted to leave the European Union (EU).<\/p>\n

There are no immediate legal changes, but there are certainly issues arising day-to-day as workplaces react in different ways.<\/p>\n

The initial HR focus related to foreign nationals living and working in the UK and their future immigration status, including what employers and individuals might do now to protect their right to continue working in the UK post Brexit.<\/p>\n

However, as the situation evolves we have heard of other workplace difficulties:
\n– \u00a0disputes between employees at work and their impact on morale;
\n– \u00a0suggestions by fellow workers that foreign nationals should leave;
\n–\u00a0 customer disputes in the workplace adversely affecting employees; and
\n– \u00a0social media exchanges outside work.<\/p>\n

Each situation will be different, but some general principles are worth keeping in mind.<\/p>\n

What does this mean in practice for employers?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Under the Equality Act, the protected characteristic \u201creligion or belief\u201d extends to philosophical beliefs that may include strongly held political beliefs.<\/p>\n

A worker having a short-term view about the referendum decision may not qualify for protection (as it needs to be a genuinely held belief). However,\u00a0a worker who holds very strong beliefs about membership of the EU\u00a0may be able to\u00a0claim protection against discrimination under the Equality Act.<\/p>\n

Workers may also rely on protection against race discrimination, where they personally suffer some adverse effect as a result of their race, nationality or ethnic origin.<\/p>\n

Employers should also remember that there is no qualifying period to bring a discrimination claim and the two year qualifying rule for unfair dismissal does not apply where the reason for dismissal relates to the employee\u2019s \u201cpolitical opinions or affiliation\u201d. \u00a0So, whatever an employee\u2019 length of service, any disputes of this nature should be managed carefully and fairly.<\/p>\n

If there is a concern about these arguments continuing\u00a0and risking discrimination and\/or damage to the business\u2019 reputation, employers may want to send a clear message to all staff to clarify what types of behaviour are unacceptable – whether that behaviour is\u00a0in person\u00a0or through technology (including\u00a0on social media).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the development? As we all know, the UK has voted to leave the European Union (EU). There are no immediate legal changes, but there are certainly issues arising day-to-day as workplaces react in different ways. The initial HR focus related to foreign nationals living and working in the UK and their future immigration … Continue reading Brexit \u2013 thoughts for employers in the evolving aftermath<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramsaypaterson.co.uk\/legal-comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}