How will Brexit change the UK’s employment law environment?

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, which has now received Royal Assent, contains a provision that UK courts and tribunals are no longer obliged to follow European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings.

At present, the number of ECJ decisions that interpret EU employment law is substantial. This development has therefore led to many questioning the implications on their businesses.

Two areas of employment law affected by this change in approach has attracted interest. First is the ECJ lifting the cap on discrimination compensation in Marshall v Southampton and South West Hampshire Area Health Authority and second, is the calculation of holiday pay examined in Williams v British Airways.

There is widespread concern, particularly from the Employment Lawyers Association, that allowing lower tribunals to depart from retained EU law will result in uncertainty and greater costs for all parties.

Nick Le Riche, partner and Zoe Symes, trainee solicitor in BDB Pitmans’ employment team, discuss these cases and the potential impact of this development in their article for People Management.

The full article is available here.