Category Archives: Workers’ rights

ET fees: a statistical injustice

Posted on June 9, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

The quarterly employment tribunal (ET) statistics issued by the Ministry of Injustice haven’t been terribly newsworthy since the figures became somewhat lacking in variability in mid-2014. So there was very little chance of the latest set – published at 9.30am … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Workers' rights | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

BEIS: Not so good with the name thingies.

Posted on May 25, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

“I’ve never been too good with names,” sang Evan Dando and The Lemonheads on the title track of their fifth album It’s a shame about Ray in 1992. The song (and the album) is an indie classic that has easily … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Enforcement of the NMW – a fair sport?

Posted on August 25, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Earlier this month, the newly re-named Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS, formerly BIS) named & shamed another batch of 197 NMW rogues. With six months having passed since the last batch, in early February, BEIS was able … Continue reading →

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NMW enforcement: has BIS kissed goodbye to £4m in financial penalties?

Posted on May 13, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

As noted on this blog in February, something very unusual went on with enforcement of the national minimum wage (NMW) in 2015/16, with both the total amount of NMW arrears recovered by HMRC and the number of workers benefiting from … Continue reading →

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Lies, damned lies, and co-authored articles in the Guardian

Posted on April 29, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

In “The Truman Show” – the film in which the eponymous hero comes to realise he is living in a constructed reality television show – Truman Burbank first suspects his marriage is a sham when he finds a wedding photo … Continue reading →

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NMW enforcement: curiouser and curiouser

Posted on April 19, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

To their credit – and that is not something I tend to say very often – Tory ministers appear to have been stung into action by revelations that large, profitable companies such as B&Q, Morrisons, Tesco and Caffe Nero are … Continue reading →

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Brexit and workers’ rights: Give me a break!

Posted on April 16, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

The already hyperbolic ‘debate’ around the likely impact of Brexit on UK workers’ rights got significantly sillier this week, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn using his Big Speech on Europe to warn of a “bonfire of [workers’] rights” should Britain … Continue reading →

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Putting Shailesh Vara in context (condensed)

Posted on April 6, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

I’ve been feeling bad that my last post was a tad, well, unreadable. So this is the condensed version. With charts (see, I do love you, Gem). So, the question is: Has the introduction of Acas early conciliation been (a) … Continue reading →

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Phantom menace: ET fees & Acas early conciliation

Posted on April 4, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

As previously noted on this blog, I have been resisting the urge to write about the feeble performance of the imbecilic junior injustice minister, Shailesh Vara MP, when giving oral evidence on the impact of employment tribunal (ET) fees to the Justice … Continue reading →

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Brexit & workers’ rights. Meh.

Posted on March 29, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

A few weeks ago, I turned down the offer of a freelance assignment: an article on the implications of Brexit for UK employment law. Well, the day job is pretty busy, and frankly the subject matter didn’t float my boat. … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments