FAQs providing information about the impact of the Government's announcement on the abolition of the default retirement age have been popular in the last month. In particular, employers have been looking at the expected timetable for the changes.

New questions on the Bribery Act 2010 and on using comments posted on employees' Facebook pages as evidence in disciplinary proceedings also feature in the list of top ten FAQs on XpertHR for August 2010.

Other popular FAQs deal with ending fixed-term contracts early, either for reasons of redundancy or poor performance.

A tribunal in Northern Ireland has awarded £45,000 to a woman whose employer pretended that she was working part time while she was pregnant so that it didn't have to pay statutory maternity pay to her.

A woman who works as a witch at the Wookey Hole tourist attraction in Somerset has been caught auditioning on the X Factor television programme on a day when she told her employer that she was ill, reports the the Daily Telegraph website.

A group of factory workers who have to clock off and have deductions made from their pay every time they go to the toilet are taking their employer to an employment tribunal, according to the Daily Mail website.

A round-up of links to news items on recent employment tribunal rulings, including: a police officer who was forced out after blowing the whistle on a colleague; an investment banker who is seeking £13.5 million after successfully claiming sex discrimination; and an Israeli lecturer who claimed religious discrimination after she converted to Christianity.

A German court has found that a policeman is entitled to an extra week's annual leave or additional pay because the time it takes him to get dressed is not included in his working hours, reports the Daily Telegraph website.

Employers’ procedures on annual leave have been put to the test over the last few months. First we had the European Court of Justice decisions of Stringer and Pereda, which dealt with the interplay between sickness and annual leave. Then the snow arrived. Again and again. With schools on the cusp of the summer holidays, HR professionals will once again need to get their heads round annual leave matters, as employees make competing and last-minute holiday requests.

An employment tribunal judge had a lucky escape when an unsuccessful claimant threatened him with a meat cleaver, the the Daily Mail website has reported.

Most employers will be aware that a new right for employees to make a request in relation to study and training came into effect on 6 April 2010. However, there appears to be a common perception that the right is to request time off to undertake study or training. Indeed, the Business Link website refers to the right as "the right to request time to train". However, applications made under the statutory provisions are likely to extend beyond requests for time off for training.

New FAQs on the World Cup have been popular on XpertHR in the last month, as employers prepare for any HR-related issues that might arise when the tournament starts next week. The world cup FAQs cover issues such as attendance and potential disciplinary issues.

The top ten frequently asked questions on XpertHR in May also includes questions on fit notes, the calculation of redundancy pay and the retention of employees' personnel files.

In this month’s XpertHR outlook video we speculate about what the coalition Government’s Programme for government (on the Cabinet Office website) could mean for the workplace and employment law.

Scoring employees against redundancy selection criteria is tricky at the best of times, and as Personnel Today recently reported, even leading employment law firms can get into trouble. However, hidden behind the slightly misrepresentative reports that Eversheds was simply “afraid” of sacking an employee on maternity leave, the case highlights an important legal dilemma for employers: how far does the sex discrimination legislation allow employers to protect women who are pregnant or on maternity leave?

Employees’ religion or beliefs don’t usually have an impact in their workplace, and actual claims are rarer still. Race and sex discrimination (to take two examples) are much more prevalent in society than discrimination based on religion or belief, but cases involving the latter provoke strong opinions and naturally get more publicity. The Times recently reported on the Pagan Police Association (external website), whose members have now (apparently) been given the right to take time off to celebrate their various festivals.

April's most popular HR questions have been dominated by the new legislation introduced on 6 April, and by worries about employees not being able to get into work, presumably caused by the threatened rail strike at the beginning of the month as well as the disruption caused by the Icelandic volcanic ash.

So the top ten frequently asked questions for the month include questions on additional paternity leave, the right to make a request in relation to training, and fit notes, as well as questions on whether or not an employee who doesn't attend work due to travel disruption should be paid.

The High Court has sentenced an ex-employee of an investment management firm to three months in prison (suspended for 18 months) after he admitted carrying out personal account trading in breach of Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules; forging a letter from his brokers; destroying evidence on his computer; and failing to comply with a search and seizure order.

Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL), the body which appoints referees and match officials to league and premier league matches, has fallen foul of the law prohibiting age discrimination as reported by trade union Prospect.

Workers at a Copenhagen Carlsberg warehouse returned to work yesterday after striking over their right to drink beer on the job.

Workers were previously allowed to drink the produce while working, but Carlsberg has changed its policy, limiting the warehouse staff to one bottle of free beer a day, to be consumed while on their lunch break. The Associated Press reports that the brewery's drivers are still entitled to their three bottles a day.

Regulations introducing additional paternity leave and additional statutory paternity pay (both on the OPSI website) came into force on 6 April 2010. Qualifying parents will be able to transfer leave and pay from the mother to the father. Eligible fathers will be able to take between two and 26 weeks’ leave from when the baby is 20 weeks old. The new rights will apply in relation to babies due on or after 3 April 2011. The right to take additional paternity leave and pay will also apply in relation to children matched for adoption on or after 3 April 2011.

A district mayor in Tokyo has become the first local government leader in Japan to take paternity leave, reports the BBC website.

What issues do line managers deal with on a daily basis? We’ve gathered data to come up with our 10 most popular line manager briefings since January 2009 (which might go some way to providing the answer).

The Ministry of Justice has introduced an employment tribunal “fast track” scheme that is designed to help employees recover tribunal awards from their employer where it has failed to pay up.

The scheme provides employees with access to an extended service from the High Court Enforcement Officers. An officer will complete the court process for the employee and undertake enforcement as swiftly as possible. The relatively low cost to the employee is a £50 court fee, which will be added to the amount that their employer owes.

The scheme will take effect from 6 April and has been created to overcome the high numbers of employers failing to pay tribunal compensation. Research by the Ministry of Justice found that 39% of employees who had been awarded compensation by tribunals had not been paid and just 53% had been paid the full amount.

New FAQs on appeals against disciplinary decisions are among the most popular employers' questions on XpertHR in March.

Other questions cover the accrual of annual leave where an employee is paid in lieu of notice; various disciplinary-related issues; and a topical Easter question dealing with potential religious discrimination issues arising from bank holidays that are linked to Christian festivals.

You’ll probably be aware of the new right for employees to make requests in relation to study and training, which came into effect today, 6 April. However, what you may not realise is that the right covers a lot more than just requests for time off.

A round up of links to news items on recent employment tribunal rulings, including: an unsuccessful age discrimination claim by a TV journalist; the first decision on trade union blacklisting; and an award for a chip shop worker who was dismissed for giving away chips.

Whether you are an employer, employee or doctor, now is a good time to get familiar with the layout of the new fit note, which replaces the traditional sick note from 6 April 2010. A new entry on the statement of fitness for work [subscription required] in the XpertHR policies and documents section brings together the Government's sample version, official guidance for employers and doctors, and an overview of the law relating to the new fit note.

The recent court martial (on the Daily Telegraph website) of the commander of a British nuclear submarine who crashed his vessel into a large rock provides a useful reminder that there are occasions when a single mistake can justify dismissal.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has caused a bit of a stir with its draft Employment Statutory Code of Practice on the Equality Bill (external link), specifically in relation to discrimination on the ground of religion or belief.

There's a new outlook video first published today on the main XpertHR site, where Jo Stubbs and I discuss recent developments in the law on statutory minimum annual leave and sickness absence. Here it is.

With less than a month to go until the introduction of the right for employees to make a request in relation to study or training, time is running out to get your procedure in place and to communicate it to your workforce.

It is sometimes necessary to suspend an employee while an investigation is carried out into a disciplinary matter; this might be the case where the employee is suspected of gross misconduct, or where colleagues may feel at risk if the employee remains at work during an investigation.

Suspension will not always be the most appropriate route and employers should always consider alternatives. If they do go ahead with the suspension, employers should take care to carry it out in a fair and reasonable way, which means keeping it under review and making sure it is not unnecessarily lengthy, and paying the employee in full (unless there is contractual provision for unpaid suspension).

• make it unlawful for organisations to refuse employment or sack individuals as a result of appearing on a blacklist
• make it unlawful for employment agencies to refuse to provide a service on the basis of an individual appearing on a blacklist; and
• enable individuals or unions to pursue compensation or solicit action against those who compile, distribute or use blacklists.
  

A new FAQ on whether or not an employee has the right to appeal a redundancy decision, which was added to XpertHR at the beginning of the month, tops the list of February's most popular FAQs.

The top 10 also includes frequently asked employers' questions on other aspects of redundancy rights, the law relating to fixed-term contracts, and a number of other employment law issues.

Gordon Brown has come under fire amidst bullying allegations by staff at No.10, Downing Street. According to Christine Pratt, CEO of the National Bullying Helpline, the charity has received several “confidential” enquiries from the PM’s staff. Somewhat controversially, Ms Pratt, who is quoted on the BBC website, has decided to go public with this information.

A round up of links to news items on recent employment tribunal rulings, including: compensation for a harassed female soldier; a decision on sickness during annual leave; and the resolution of a zero-hours contract dispute.

Employees who are on adoption leave, or who are in the process of adopting a child, have specific rights in a redundancy situation, similar to those of employees who are on, or about to go on, maternity leave.

Employers dealing with these circumstances can select such an employee for redundancy, as long as it is a genuine, procedurally fair redundancy, and the decision to select the employee is not due to his or her adoption leave.

A new guide in the XpertHR "how to" section gives practical guidance to employers on dealing with employees on adoption leave, or who are adopting a child, in a redundancy situation (subscription required).

According to research, flexible working is beneficial to the physical and mental health of employees. Apparently, those who can decide on their working hours may even have healthier blood pressure and heart rates. The findings, which are available on the BBC website, come after a think tank, the New Economics Foundation (“NEF”), recently recommended a 21-hour week for all employees.

It is common knowledge that employees are legally entitled to be accompanied at disciplinary hearings by a work colleague or union official. But most organisations' disciplinary procedures do not make mention of whether or not employees have the right to legal representation at internal disciplinary meetings. Two recent rulings may make some employers think again when next updating their disciplinary procedure.

Fans of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) will know that there are long-running issues over the interaction of holidays and sickness absence. A particular problem is whether or not employees who are unable to take statutory holiday due to sickness absence can carry over that holiday into the following leave year.

The statutory maximum unfair dismissal compensation award from 1 February 2010 is £65,300 - a high price to pay for not following a disciplinary procedure deemed to be fair and reasonable.

In Metrobus Ltd v Cook (EAT/0490/06) the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that an employment tribunal did not err in increasing the amount of unfair dismissal compensation by 40% where an employer had failed to follow the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedure.

IRS is conducting research to look at how employers deal with grievances and disciplinaries. We also want to collect feedback on the reaction to the new Acas code, and whether it has helped or hindered in dealing with employee grievances and disciplinaries.

Taking part in this confidential survey will give you a unique opportunity to benchmark your organisation's procedures for dealing with individual disputes against other employers in your sector.

Some mothers may have attributed a lapse in memory or concentration to their pregnancy or new born baby. Australian researchers, however, have confirmed that a woman’s brain is not adversely affected by pregnancy or motherhood.

Supporting women who are due to go on maternity leave, and those who are returning from maternity leave, can help employers retain experienced and dedicated employees and ensure that they are working to their full potential. There can be a number of significant benefits to business, including saving on recruitment and training costs and ensuring productivity levels are at their peak. However, knowing what practical support to give pregnant women or new mothers can be difficult. That’s why at XpertHR we’ve commissioned a good practice guide on maternity from Liz Morris of Mayfield Associates.

Employees have a statutory right to take time off work for a myriad of reasons ranging from parental leave to dealing with care arrangements. One survey found that 34% of employees needed to take time off for an emergency involving a dependant. There’s even a new right for employees to request time off for training, due to come into force in April this year.

The transfer of staff where TUPE applies on the sale of a business or transfer of a service is an area that invariably causes headaches for the HR teams involved. Getting to grips with even just the basics of TUPE can raise complex questions and practical difficulties. The IRS conference on managing successful TUPE staff transfers aims to refresh your understanding of the basics, as well as looking in detail at more advanced issues arising from TUPE transfers.

We've put together a resource pack to accompany the conference, which brings together the information and guidance on TUPE that is available on XpertHR, to help delegates get the most out of the conference. If you can't make the conference, the resource pack will still be a useful tool in updating your team on the essentials and latest developments in the law on TUPE.

Do you need to know about employment law in France? The latest European employment law guide added to XpertHR looks at key elements of employment law in Frances as it applies to: recruitment and selection; pay and benefits; employee rights; contracts of employment; training and development; equal opportunities; industrial relations; health and safety; and termination of employment.

XpertHR regularly publishes information on industrial relations law and practice across Europe - providing expert analysis of developments at European level and in individual European countries. In addition, other guides to national employment law in European countries include: the Netherlands; Italy; Germany; Greece; Poland; and Ireland. For ease of reference, we’ve rounded our European information up on one European employment law and practice page.

Remember that we want to provide information on the countries that are relevant to you in your HR role - so let us know which countries you’d like to see guidance on in the future.

Snow chaos across the UK means many employees can't get to work, through no fault of their own, because travel is not possible and/or schools are closed. Many believe they are entitled to be paid as usual in these circumstances - and are unhappy when they find otherwise.

A blog post of mine on snow, pay and employment rights from last February has seen a flurry of comments in the past few days, so I thought it would be worth returning to the issue today.

There will be an additional bank holiday in June 2012 to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee. The late May bank holiday will be moved to 4 June 2012 and 5 June will be made into an extra bank holiday - according to the Government press release, this will give us the chance for a "long weekend of celebration".

Have you ever pondered any of the following when dealing with what promised to be a straightforward disciplinary matter: your options where you suspect that an employee is guilty of gross misconduct but you have no concrete proof? What scope you have to discipline an employee whose claim of harassment turned out to be unfounded? How to respond to a 16-year-old employee who is insisting on his mum accompanying him to his disciplinary hearing?

Want to receive the answer to a frequently asked HR question every day? If you’re on Twitter, you can do so by following HRdailyquestion. The questions come from the popular XpertHR FAQs section, which contains over 1,000 frequently asked HR questions - and more importantly the answers.

A round up of links to recent employment tribunal rulings, including a lorry driver who was unfairly dismissed after a row with a customer, a straight teacher who lost his sexual orientation discrimination claim, and a Northern Ireland industrial tribunal ruling on police officers' shifts.

The Department for Work and Pensions has published some of the key employment-related statutory rates for April 2010, including statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory adoption pay (SAP), statutory paternity pay (SPP) and statutory sick pay (SSP).

The maximum unfair dismissal award will reduce from £66,200 to £65,300 from 1 February 2010.

The Employment Rights (Revision of Limits) Order 2009 revises the limit in line with the decrease in the retail prices index between September 2008 and September 2009 - this was -1.4%.

There was a one-off increase to the maximum week’s pay used to calculate certain awards, including statutory redundancy pay and the basic unfair dismissal award, on 1 October 2009. This rose from £350 to £380. The legislation that brought this one-off rise into effect excluded, for a single time only, the operation of s.34 of the Employment Relations Act 1999, which normally changes this limit, along with the maximum unfair dismissal award, on 1 February. On this occasion, the maximum of a week’s pay for these purposes will therefore remain at £380.

For further information see Maximum unfair dismissal compensation award to decrease.

Around 50 new model policies and documents have been added to XpertHR in 2009. But what have been the most popular? The XpertHR employment intelligence blog provides a round-up.

As usual, 2009 was a busy year in the employment tribunals, courts and in the European Court of Justice. But what employment law cases can we look forward to in the next 12 months? Here are 10 significant employment decisions expected in 2010.

IRS is conducting benchmarking research into paternity and adoption leave. Completing this brief, confidential survey on paternity and adoption leave will entitle you to a free copy of the report. The closing date for this survey is Monday 14 December 2009.

The top 10 most popular FAQs on XpertHR during November 2009 include some recently added questions on dress codes, including whether employers can require male employees to keep their hair short, and questions on flexible working requests, annual leave entitlement when an employee receives a payment in lieu of notice and opting out of the 48-hour week under the Working Time Regulations.

A study by the National Childbirth Trust, which recently surveyed over 1,500 mothers who returned to work after having a baby, has revealed that 39% of mothers surveyed found returning to work difficult or very difficult. 31% said that their relationship with their boss had deteriorated since becoming pregnant and 32% found that their promotion prospects had been reduced since having a baby.

Despite the reported (on the Independent website) cancellation of work Christmas parties by many employers, the festive party season is kicking off for most people, with an increase in evening social events (work related or otherwise) and long lunches. Employers may have to address the problem of some employees coming to work still suffering the effects of the previous evening’s over-indulgence in alcohol, or returning to work the worse for wear after a liquid lunch.

A round up of links to recent employment tribunal rulings, including a decision that a spiritualist was not discriminated against because of his beliefs, an £800,000 payout for a former News of the World reporter who claimed bullying, and £440,000 compensation for a council equalities officer who was dismissed.

A company boss has been jailed for forging a contract of employment and a warning letter after a former employee accused him of sexual harassment, reports the BBC website.

A round up of links to recent employment tribunal rulings, including a £190,000 payout to four redundant managers, a successful tribunal defence by Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty's restaurant group, and an unfair dismissal claim involving a missing barrel of beer.

Campaigners are calling for a change in the law giving women who use a surrogate mother to have a baby for them rights to matenity leave and pay, according to London Today.

While surrogacy is relatively uncommon, XpertHR has received queries from subscribers about the maternity rights of surrogate mothers and the women for whom they have a child. Their questions have been answered in the XpertHR FAQ section:

• Will a surrogate mother be entitled to paid maternity leave?
• Will a woman for whom a surrogate mother gives birth to a child be entitled to paid maternity leave?

A round up of links to recent employment tribunal rulings, including compensation for employees at a printing firm who were not warned of redundancy, the failure of Gloucestershire Police to make reasonable adjustments for a dyslexic police officer and an unfair dismissal claim by a delivery driver who was caught urinating in public.

A shop assistant who was informed by the Performing Right Society (PRS) that she could not sing at work without a licence has been given an apology, reports the BBC website.

The Government has said that the Agency Workers Regulations, which will implement the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, will come into force on 1 October 2011, just two months before member states' deadline of 5 December 2011.

Dealing with employees who have recently been bereaved is difficult for employers. They need to treat employees who have lost a partner or close relative with sensitivity but at the same time will wish to avoid major disruption to their business and too much additional pressure on the bereaved employee’s colleagues. Questions about time off rights and how to help an employee who has returned to work arise.

With the 2009 Conservative Party conference taking place in Manchester this week, and a general election looming, XpertHR looks at the employment law changes that an incoming Conservative Government might make.

It appears that the Labour government is dreaming up new schemes to extend flexible working beyond the current parental rights agenda. According to newspaper reports, the party's pre-election manifesto includes a measure that would give workers the right to accumulate paid leave lasting as long as a year by working additional hours. This is apparently based on a Dutch model and sounds like a cross between flexible benefits and unpaid sabbaticals.

Following the Government’s recent confirmation that it intends to push ahead with proposals to allow mothers to transfer the second six months of their maternity leave to fathers, a consultation has been launched including draft Regulations that set out how the proposals will be administered.

Plans to allow fathers to benefit from up to six months' additional paternity leave if the mother returns to work before the end of the maternity leave period to which she is entitled are to go ahead despite the recession, the Government has confirmed (on the News Distribution Service website).

Tennis star Kim Clijsters has won the US Open (on the BBC website) just months after coming out of her two-and-a-half year retirement during which she had a child.

The Master of the Rolls, Lord David Neuberger, who declined to move to the Supreme Court, has said that it was dreamt up ''over a glass of whisky'' by Tony Blair. Read more on the Telegraph.

Until 31 July 2009, Law Lords sitting as a committee of the House of Lords acted as the highest court of appeal in the country. From next month, while independently appointed Law Lords will continue to hear appeals, they will do so in the confines of an independent and geographically separate institution; the Supreme Court, which will be housed in Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square.

Questions on swine flu and the workplace continue to feature strongly in our chart of the most frequently accessed FAQs on XpertHR. The new FAQs added to the bank holidays section are also proving popular.

Other questions that HR professional have been looking at this month deal with retirement notice periods, calculation of continuity of service for fixed-term employees, and pay for employees taking time off for fertility treatment.

The most common questions that employers raise about bank holidays concern part-time workers and their entitlement to bank holidays. In particular, confusion arises over the position of part-time workers who don’t normally work on a Monday: are they entitled to time off in lieu, or does their working pattern mean that they simply lose out on many bank holidays?

The answers to this and other frequently asked questions on bank holidays have been added to the XpertHR FAQs section, in time for next week’s bank holiday.

Yesterday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) commenced legal proceedings against the BNP asserting that both its constitution and membership criteria - by restricting membership to particular ethnic groups and those who have white skin - are in breach of the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA).

The EHRC has applied for an injunction against the BNP requiring it to comply with the RRA, and its application is due to be heard on 2 September 2009. If the BNP fails to comply with an injunction requiring it to open up its membership it may well be subject to criminal sanctions. Read more on the EHRC website

It has always been good practice to keep in contact with employees on maternity leave, even when the law was silent on this point. The law was changed in April 2007 to allow employers to make "reasonable contact" with employees on maternity leave. Three model letters added to XpertHR envisage situations where contact may take place.

Matt Single, the BNP's former security chief, and his wife Sadie Graham, have been charged by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the leak of 12,000 BNP members' personal details last November. The details that were revealed included names, addresses, mobile phone numbers and the names and ages of children in a "family membership". Read more on the Times website.

Data that consists of information about a person's political opinions constitutes "sensitive personal data", and is comparable to information about, for example, a person's physical or mental health, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. The Data Protection Act 1998 lays down specific guidelines for the handling of sensitive personal data. See Data protection in XpertHR's employment law manual (subscription required) for guidance on compliance.

Flash Sushi is set to employ naked female models so that patrons may indulge in a Nyotaimori dining experience and eat sushi directly off their naked bodies. The price tag? A mere £250. Read more on the telegraph website.

Despite much speculation that the Government was set to ditch its plans to extend statutory maternity pay (maternity allowance and statutory adoption pay) to 52 weeks and increase paternity leave from two to 26 weeks, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has confirmed that "it remains the Government's goal to extend maternity and paternity rights, we are considering the timing of that extension".

Any sensible employer should realise the importance of making maternity leave run as smoothly as possible, so that valued members of staff are more likely to return to work after their leave. One important tool is the pre-maternity leave interview.

The latest guide in the XpertHR “how to” section looks at the issues for employers to consider to ensure that they comply with their legal obligations towards fixed-term employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave.

Swine flu and the workplace - it comes as no surprise that many of the most frequently accessed FAQs on XpertHR throughout July were on this subject (see Swine flu - guidance for employers for up-to-date information and guidance). Other popular questions cover breaks for new mothers to express milk and the special rules for employees made redundant while on adoption leave. Most employers are aware of the laws protecting employees made redundant while on maternity leave, but remember that they apply to employees of either sex on adoption leave too.

Following on from the High Court ruling in R (on the application of G) v Governors of X School and Y City Council, the Court of Appeal has now said that a doctor can be accompanied by a lawyer at a disciplinary hearing in circumstances where he or she could be barred from employment in the NHS.

I attended the hearing of the Age Concern retirement case at the High Court today. I've only attended the second day of a three day hearing so can't pretend to be able to give a balanced view of all the evidence, but I can give you an idea of a few of the arguments raised today. The High Court is being asked to decide whether the default retirement age (which allows employers to set a mandatory retirement age at 65 or above) is lawful. The case (known as the Heyday case) continues on Monday, but there won't be a decision until some time in the Autumn.

The High Court hearing in the case brought by Age Concern, challenging mandatory retirement, begins today. Age Concern argues that the default retirement age of 65 is unlawful. If the case is successful, employers will no longer be able to use mandatory retirement ages (unless they can justify doing so for reasons connected to social policy).

I was interviewed by Personnel Today about the issues to be decided and the implications of the case for employers. You can see the video on the Personnel Today website.

Every year a small number of employees experience a stillbirth or lose their baby shortly after birth. In such circumstances, employees should be advised of their maternity rights.

Workers have the right to be accompanied at a formal disciplinary or grievance hearing, but can the companion be a solicitor? Under the statutory right in s.10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999, the companion is limited to a trade union official or a work colleague (although, of course, the organisation’s policy may allow other categories of companion, such as a partner or friend). Many employers will therefore be concerned to learn that, in a recent case - R v Governors of X School - the High Court held that a teacher undergoing a disciplinary process was entitled to be represented by his solicitor.

The case of Leslie Seldon, the solicitor who challenged his firm's decision to retire him at age 65, is being heard this week at the Court of Appeal. The case is important because it will hopefully give some clarification on when age discrimination can be justified. Mr Seldon was a partner in the firm and so the default retirement age did not apply (the default retirement age allows employers to set a retirement age of 65 or above without having to justify it - but it only applies to "employees", not partners).

Throughout June 2009 what were HR professionals asking? The top 10 most frequently visited FAQs on XpertHR in the last month include some recent additions to the site on the subject of gender reassignment and toilet facilities, and whether or not the entitlement to a 20-minute rest break arises after every six hours worked. These questions were suggested by subscribers.

Other questions in the top 10 look at workplace maternity rights for surrogate mothers and the women for whom they give birth, and dismissal where the employer has previously granted an employee’s request to carry on working beyond retirement age.

Workers struggling to keep cool at work may feel empathy with Andy Murray who complained that the new roof at Wimbledon lead to such humid conditions that he could not perform at his best.

Support for an end to the "default retirement age" appears to be growing, ahead of the High Court hearing of the Age Concern and Help the Aged judicial review of the age regulations next month.

The Commons Work and Pensions Committee will recommend that the default retirement age, which allows employers to retire employees at age 65 without giving a reason or justifying the decision, should be scrapped. In its report into pensioner poverty, due to be published next month, the Committee will highlight the economic reasons for abolishing mandatory retirement now, rather than waiting for the review planned for 2011.

Six police officers have been suspended in the face of allegations that they subjected suspects to waterboarding; a torture technique that simulates the experience of drowning. (The technique last hit the headlines in 2007 when it was reportedly used by the CIA on Al-Quaeda suspects with the authority of the United States Department of Justice.) Read more on the Times website (external website).

Well, they are in France anyway, according to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court. The contestants of the french version of Temptation Island, l'Ile de la Tentation, were held to be workers entitled to overtime, holiday pay, and compensation for wrongful termination. Hot on their heels (or should that be flip-flops?), several other l'Ile de la Tentation contestants have now launched legal proceedings. Quote of the week goes to the lower court that dealt with the case, which stated "Tempting a person of the opposite sex requires concentration and attention". Read more on the Telegraph website (external website).