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Here's our latest Employment newsletter, we hope you will find it useful. If you have any feedback, please send it through by replying to this email.

Series: AI in Employment Law - AI and the Employment Life Cycle: Attracting, recruiting and onboarding talent

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used across the early stages of the employment life cycle – specifically when attracting, recruiting, and onboarding talent. Our recent article –  available here –  outlines how employers are using AI in talent acquisition processes. It also examines the legal risks involved and it provides advice on how to mitigate such risks.

Can post-employment detriments arising from whistleblowing disclosures fall within whistleblowing laws? 

On 6 April 2025, the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 (the Act) came into force. As we detailed in our article published at the time (available here), the Act allows eligible parents, who have a baby that is receiving neonatal care for at least one week within 28 days of their birth, to take up to a maximum of 12 weeks of paid leave.

The Government has recently issued new technical guidance on the Act, which provides commentary on the following key points:

The technical guidance provides valuable support for employers in understanding, and complying with, the Act's requirements. We also recommend that employers: (1) update their family-related leave policies to include an NCL and NCP policy; and (2) provide training to managers and HR teams to ensure that they are fully equipped to handle any requests from employees on NCL and NCP. If your organisation requires any support with NCL and NCP, please contact Hannah Meehan or your usual contact in the Employment team.

When is someone “disabled” under the Equality Act - and why timing matters 

A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal decision in JP v Spelthorne Borough Council confirms that tribunals can decide disability status early in proceedings and without defining every allegation of discrimination. Both the ET and EAT agreed that the claimant was not disabled during the relevant period, as her health issues were linked to a specific work situation and were not likely to last 12 months or recur.    

If you would like to know what this means for employers and why timing and pleadings are important, click here to read our LinkedIn post.

Q: We've just started a disciplinary investigation, and the employee accused of gross misconduct has admitted it. Do we need to continue with the investigation, or can we move straight to a hearing?

A: You should finish the investigation. Although it’s likely the investigation won’t take as long, it could unearth mitigating circumstances or simply cast doubt over the truthfulness of a confession (which whilst rare, does sometimes occur when pressure is being applied by a line manager, or sometimes to preserve the employment of a friend or family member).