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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.
Free movement between the UK and the EU ended on 31 December 2020. Since 1 January 2021, a new points-based immigration system applies to all migrants wanting to come to the UK, whether they are EU citizens or not.
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The Government has announced a consultation exercise into the possible removal of non-compete clauses in employment contracts which will run until 26 February 2021.
The government has now announced further changes to the Job Support Scheme (now renamed the Job Support Scheme Open), with both the percentage of working hours and the employer contribution to unworked hours dropping.
On 14 October 2020, The Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments Regulations 2020 (the “Regulations”) were made into law and will come into force on 4 November 2020.
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