The Annual Conference: Employment Law and Practice

Personnel and HR managers and Directors, Employee Relations Officers, Employment Law Specialists, Senior Line Managers, In-house Lawyers and all those who have an interest in employment law and practice.

• Access latest updates on employment contracts, discrimination, TUPE, dismissal and The Equality Bill
• Benefit from a best practice HR case study on how to manage attendance and sick pay
• Get to grips with the key legal challenges the growing communication phenomenon of social media presents
• Explore the potential legisltive changes under a new government

I enjoyed the event and the variety of topics and speakers throughout the two days!

—Susan Holmes, Head of HR, The Pension Protection Fund

The Conference covered an excellent range of topics bringing my Employment Law knowledge right up to date. A very enjoyable two days.

—Alison Neville, HR and Training Manager, Ascot Underwriting Ltd

Excellent, very good relevant cases/tests to highlight theory.

—Reckitt Benckiser,

It was an excellent event with speakers who were very knowledgeable in their field. A very useful update and an opportunity to make useful contacts.

—Delegate, The Annual Conference 2006

Very good trainer – very engaging and prepared to go through real issue.

—Reckitt Benckiser,

Another good event, I look forward to attending another one.

—Collette Smith, HR Manager , Manches

Very well organised. Presented clearly with variety of topics/speakers which helps to keep you engaged

—Gemma Murray, HR Officer, Trinity House

Both the course material and Sanjiv Ahluwalia have been very well received. I am particularly pleased that we had Sanjiv as he seemed to be able to relate with our people here.

—Andy Hayes,Training Manager, GEARBULK,

Useful, interesting and a good balance on length of presentations

—Sarah Fecondi, Personnel Officer, Bedford Borough Council

A good refresher for a broad range of employment law issues

—Caz Hannam, Learning and Development Manager, Inmarsat Global Ltd

An exceptionally informative and well presented conference packed with useful updates and practical examples

—Jill Scoltock, Corporate Services Director, Coachwise Limited

Well organised, pleasant surroundings and very informative conference

—Claire Withey, HR Director, Commercial First Mortgages Ltd

Well organised and run. Very informative

—Sarah Jones, Director of HR, Wilsons Solicitors LLP

Varied, interesting, fast paced & relevant

—Pat Fry, Personnel Officer, Hertfordshire Probation

The event has enhanced my current understanding of recent & anticipated developments

—Janine Rusbridge, Human Resources Manager, Writtle College

Very informative & helpful for my employee relations exam – thank you!

—Daisy Martins, Senior Assistant, Bank of China

I thought the conference was very well organised and the speakers were well prepared

—Emma Stephens, Human Resources Advisor, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions

Good mixture of topics & all in one day

—Cordula Galster, HR Officer, Sanofi Aventis

The quality of this conference was excellent as was the catering!

—Debbie Dady, Head of Temporary Agency Workers, Metropolitan Police

An excellent event which pulled together high calibre and knowledgeable speakers for the benefit of the delegates

—Malcolm Quiney, Homeworker

The speakers knew their stuff!

—Billie Osborne, Senior Lecturer & Course Leader, The University of Northampton

Excellent opportunities for networking and the timings & breaks were very well done

—Melanie Gurney, HR Business Partner, Mizuho International plc

Very good presenters and relevant content

—Natalie Bellis, HR Specialist, Epson Telford Ltd

Very interesting and informative

—Tim Roberts, HR Partner, Aggreko UK Ltd

Venue details will be confirmed shortly.

For further information on the training facilities we use, please call us on +44 (0)20 8371 7010

JSB’s Annual Employment Law conference took place on 12 June at the Hilton London Euston hotel. This premier event provided key updates on the case law and legislation which have arisen over the past year and offered practical advice from leading lawyers at top law firms including Herbert Smith, Olswang, DLA Piper, Eversheds, CMS Cameron McKenna and Dechert.

The day commenced with a presentation by Anna Henderson and Peter Frost from Herbert Smith on the difficult area of discipline and grievances. This interesting session provided an update on the statutory procedures, the Employment Bill reforms and the draft Acas code and explained how this will potentially affect the workplace. Key advice was also offered on managing workplace investigations and hearings and the business case was examined for using alternative dispute resolution and, in particular, mediation as a tool for resolving workplace conflict.

The next presentation focused on the key changes and case law developments in discrimination law, and was led by Melanie Lane of Olswang. This informative presentation covered the current legal framework surrounding age, sex and disability discrimination and touched on key cases which have recently occurred in this area such as Heyday and Coleman v Attridge as well as providing an update on the new Single Equality Bill.

The next two sessions of the day focused around the issue of employee wellbeing and provided both legal and practical advice on managing absence and ill-health within the workplace. The first session was led by Jonathan Hearn of DLA Piper and provided key legal advice on absence policies, dismissal and sick pay. A clear update was also provided on the important case of Stringer and the accrual of holiday pay during sick leave.

This interesting legal session was followed by a practical case study presented by Leatham Green of East Sussex County Council. Leatham spoke about how the Council has implemented a well being culture and improved sickness absence in the workplace. He outlined the policy changes the Council had made and explained how the employees have been engaged in the whole process which has really helped to make a difference.

The final presentation before lunch was based around the contract of employment and was led by Catherine Wilson-Paul of Eversheds. Catherine provided an update on the case law and legislation surrounding agency workers and also offered legal advice on holiday pay as well as incorporating restrictive covenants into the contract of employment – some much needed legal advice for employers.

After lunch, the presentations continued with a case study from Christine Moore of BT. As well as providing a legal update on flexible working policies, Christine explained how BT had gone about responding to these legislative changes and offered practical examples of how this had worked within the organisation. This provided delegates with some useful tips for creating a work-life balance within their organisations.

The day came to a close with two final presentations from Simon Jeffreys of CMS Cameron McKenna and Charles Wynn-Evans of Dechert. Simon spoke about the changes in case law surrounding TUPE and Redundancy and how this would be likely to change in the future. Charles then gave a thorough update on the areas of corporate manslaughter, immigration and rolled up holiday pay, which brought the conference to a end for the day. The presentations were all extremely well received and gave a clear and concise overview of the current developments in employment law - we look forward to seeing you all again next year!