Court Update Roundup
05/13/2021
Welcome to our roundup of court updates and articles for the year so far.
Springtime has seen a massive surge of optimism in the air. Shops have reopened, hospitality venues can serve people outside, and the Coronavirus vaccination programme is ahead of schedule.
As we continue to move through spring, the country is set to open up further. Many local authorities have taken proactive steps to support businesses and hospitality by offering incentives such as free parking for a limited period to encourage people back to their local high street.
As always, we are focused on helping you stay abreast of new developments. Below you will find news pieces, plus details and links to some of our articles recently published. These include discussions on e-scooters, air pollution, smart motorways, and many others.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support. If there is anything you would like to see published on our News and Insights content hub, please do not hesitate to let us know.
- Mike Essam
- Head of Claims Relationship Management l Zurich Municipal
Rights of Women Report on Sexual Harassment
The Rights of Women charity has reported that during the Coronavirus pandemic there was a marked increase in online harassment. Between 23 November and 15 December 2020, the leading women’s charity conducted an online survey to ascertain how working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic impacted women’s experiences of sexual harassment. The results make for sobering reading.
- 45% of women experiencing sexual harassment, reported experiencing the harassment remotely. Remote sexual harassment refers to the following: sexual messages (e.g. email, texts, social media); cyber harassment (e.g. via Zoom, Teams, Slack etc); and sexual calls.
- 15% of women who have experienced sexual harassment reported that some or all of the harassment has moved online whilst working from home, since the start of lockdown (23rd March 2020).
- 72% of women experiencing sexual harassment at work do not feel their employer is doing enough to protect and/or support them from the harassment and abuse.
- 29% of women who have reported sexual harassment to their employer reported that the response has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commenting on the report, Deeba Syed, Senior Legal Officer at Rights of Women said that the current legal framework, i.e the Equality Act 2010 is not fit for purpose when it comes to protecting women from workplace sexual harassment. Furthermore, going forward, legislation and guidance relating to the issue needs to reflect the new reality of more people working from home.
Price v Powys County Council UKEAT/0133/20/LA (V)
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld the Employment Tribunal’s decision that no sex discrimination existed where an employer pays a man on shared parental leave (SPL) less than a woman on statutory adoption leave (SAL). Mr Price was employed by Powys County Council when he applied for SPL to look after his baby whilst his wife returned to work. His employer said he would be paid the statutory rate of Shared Parental Pay (SPP) which was less than what was available under the Council’s Supporting Working Parent’s Policy which included enhanced rates for maternity and adoption pay.
Mr Price brought a sex discrimination claim based on the fact that the Council paid more to employees claiming Statutory Maternity Leave (SML) and SAL than to those claiming SPL.
The EAT applied Ali v Capita Customer Management Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 900, where the Court of Appeal ruled that childcare was not the purpose of SML, rather the payment was to protect the health and wellbeing of the pregnant and birth mother. SAL pay was also sufficiently different to not be comparable to SPL.
By building on Ali v Capita Customer Management Ltd this case provides welcome clarity for employers that a sex discrimination claim relating to the different pay levels between SPL and an advanced adoption pay policy is unlikely to succeed. However, the judgment does not address the low level of shared parental leave take-up by fathers. Many fathers feel they cannot afford to take leave based on SPL pay. This results in many women being forced to step back from their career to care for children, leading to long term pay disparity between the sexes in almost every profession.
Bus strategy for England published
On 15 March 2021, The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Office for Zero-Emission Vehicles published a consultation on ending sales of new diesel buses and the DfT published a national bus strategy for England. The consultation (which is now closed) sought views on when sales should end, how to transition to a fully green (hydrogen and electric) bus fleet, barriers to the phase-out, and measures to support it.
On the same date, the DfT published Bus Back Better, a national bus strategy for England. The strategy for improving bus services includes changing the structure of bus service provision so it is managed through an enhanced partnership under the Bus Services Act 2017 or franchising. Around 4,000 new zero-emission buses will be purchased and new provisions, such as demand-responsive travel in smaller vehicles, will be put in place in low-density areas.
ICO publishes detailed guidance on national security and defence exemption under section 26 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has added a new section to its Guide to the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which explains in detail the application of the national security and defence exemption under section 26 of the Data Protection Act 2018. Local authority personnel required to consider this exemption will find practical advice, checklists, and examples to help them make an informed decision.
Published articles
Below are details and links to articles we published in Quarter One.
- Following the Coroner’s decision in the case of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, air pollution and its link to poor health outcomes and even death have become a serious concern for all local authorities. The Air that we Breathe examines the background of our current air pollution regulations and asks whether clean air is a human right.
- E-scooters are another hot topic at the moment. Are we E-scooting into Dangerous Territory looks at the risks and dangers associated with e-scooters and asks if making helmets compulsory would mitigate these risks?
- We also commented on the fact that Highways England has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service over the death of a woman on a smart motorway. Following 38 deaths in five years, the safety of smart motorways is a controversial issue. More prosecutions may follow.
- In Norfolk CC v Durrant [2020] EWHC 3590 (QB), the local authority successfully appealed a decision that it had been negligent, on the grounds that no causation was established. We provide a detailed summary of the case in No Causation, No Negligence.
- We also discussed the decision in Bonnier Books UK Holdings v Johnson [2021] EWHC 603 (QB), where the High Court ruled that an interim injunction preventing a former employee from disclosing information, as per the confidentiality clause in their Settlement Agreement, could continue.
- In High Court Rejects Councils Bid To Cancel Loans On Misrepresentation Grounds, we analyse the case of Leeds City Council and others v Barclays Bank Plc [2021] EWHC 363 (Comm). Here the High Court struck out a claim for misrepresentations made by several councils concerning the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).
We hope you have found the articles published in Quarter One interesting and information. If there is anything you would like to see published on our News and Insights hub going forward, please do not hesitate to let us know – info@zurichmunicipal.com. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of these court updates, these articles are intended as a general overview and not intended, and should not be used, as a substitute for taking legal advice in any specific situation. Neither Zurich Municipal, nor any member of the Zurich group of companies, will accept any responsibility for any actions taken or not taken on the basis of these articles.
