UK employment law August 2025: Think broadly about disability discrimination as claims increase
This month: Disability discrimination, things to check in September, staff fraud and monitoring onsite attendance
This month: Disability discrimination, things to check in September, staff fraud and monitoring onsite attendance
Heading into one of the busiest periods for employment law in decades, keeping ahead on the latest developments is more important than ever.
This month we’re reflecting on the implications for employers following a notable rise in disability discrimination claims. We cover a tribunal ruling that interrogated a meeting where managers were speaking a language the employee could not understand. Finally, don’t forget about the new fraud law this month.
With disability discrimination claims increasing by a third in the past year, it is worth noting the context of this rise.
Disability discrimination at work applies where a person with a disability is placed at a disadvantage by something that happens in the workplace (a provision, criterion, or practice - PCP).
With evidence now indicating that disability claims relating to depression, stress and the menopause are contributing to the increase in claims, practitioners may wish to consult CIPD guidance on these matters to review their practice.
In addition, it is worth considering employers obligations in relation to preventing such discrimination:
September heralds the return to certain trends in the world of work:
The case of Ms S Kellington-Craword v Newlands Care Angus Ltd [2023] has returned a judgement. The part of the claim that was successful related to race discrimination and harassment in relation to a meeting on 14 December 2022.
Here, following a series of disputes between the parties, a meeting was conducted in to attempt to resolve the issues. In the meeting, the Managing Director and another Manager (both of whom were native Polish speakers) made comments in Polish in front of the claimant (who expressed as being English national origin and could not speak Polish). These comments were not explained in English and due to this, the claimant felt uncomfortable.
The judge concluded that this did contribute to the race discrimination and harassment. However, the judge also noted that this was part of a wider context than the language difference. The claimant felt uncomfortable because of this incident but also because of the meeting’s conduct in general.
Employers may wish to safeguard their processes by ensuring that all managers are briefed on how to best conduct difficult conversations.
The monitoring of staff attendance on site is a hot topic, grabbing headlines on an almost weekly basis. As people professionals, knowing where the line lays between what you can and cannot monitor can be difficult.
There is no one size fits all. Monitoring crosses over into multiple aspects of law. Instead, as a people professional or employer, it may be useful to consider matters such as:
From 1 September a failure to prevent fraud offence is in force under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. For most employers the change will be unsurprising – essentially it codifies that it is not ok if a business’ employees, agents, subsidiaries or other "associated persons" commit fraud that is intended to benefit the organisation.
The practical aspect of this is that, where the organisation meet certain size criteria, then, if there were a court case relating to fraud, an organisation would need to show that it took proactive steps to introduce reasonable fraud prevention.
Read more on this in the guide to staff fraud.
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