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The decision in Publicis Consultants v O’Farrell is a stark warning to employers to be careful how they label termination payments in dismissal letters.
O’Farrell claimed breach of contract because Publicis’ dismissed her on four days’ notice instead of her three months’ contractual notice. O’Farrell was therefore entitled to claim damages for breach of contract, equivalent to her 3 months’ notice. However, her dismissal letter stated that she would receive a “ex gratia payment equivalent to three month’s salary”. Publicis claimed that the ex gratia payment was intended to compensate her for her period of notice and therefore should be offset against her notice pay. The EAT held the money was unambiguously advanced as an ex gratia payment and should not therefore be offset against her claim.
Care should be taken when labelling payments as ex gratia and it be made clear that the payment is intended to compensate the employee for their loss of notice to ensure it will be offset against any claim for notice pay.
The Government has now announced the measures that it intends to put in place to support the self-employed who are suffering income loss due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Government has confirmed that it will not enforce the usual deadlines for gender pay reporting - 30 March for public sector employers and 4 April for private sector employers - this year due to the impact of coronavirus.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 received Royal Assent yesterday and the key employment provisions included in it relate to extensions to Statutory Sick Pay, recovery of Statutory Sick Pay and emergency volunteers.
The much heralded, and controversial, changes to IR35 have fallen victim to Covid-19.
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