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Welcome to this week's Coffee Break setting out the latest legal and practical developments impacting UK employers.
Strikes, work to rule and other forms of industrial action
With national rail strikes taking place this week and the likelihood of more industrial action in both the rail industry and across other public services, we talk this week with Julian Hemming, a Partner and member of our Industrial Relations Team at Osborne Clarke, who helps our clients with managing strikes and other forms of industrial action. Julian talks us through the requirements for, and law behind, strikes and other forms of industrial action such as "work to rule".
With a number of employers in the news for considering the payment of one-off "cost of living bonuses", it is important to remember that earlier this year the Supreme Court handed down an important decision for employers who recognise a trade union for collective bargaining purposes, finding that an employer's direct pay offers to union members, while a collective bargaining process was still ongoing, were unlawful inducements. The Supreme Court did not rule out an employer making direct pay offers where a collective bargaining process is not in progress, for example, where the collective bargaining has been exhausted or where the employer has a genuine business reasons for approaching employees directly, but legal advice should be taken before considering any payments where industrial action is...
In 2025, U.K. insurers found fewer bogus claims than in 2024, but the cases they intercepted tended to involve more money. According to The Independent, insurers stopped 1.34 billion (about $1.77 ...