Coffee Break Reads:

1. Bullying and harassment, you make the call ⚖️
2. Pride is facing a backlash, and it's coming from within too 🏳️‍🌈
3. Five skills every manager needs for difficult conversations 💬
4. Former Mid and East Antrim Council chief convicted over deleted emails ⚠️
5. Dear Agony Aunt, what do you do when leadership won't live the values? 🤔

In other news................and it's a "best of luck!" and "enjoy your retirement!" to Adam Brett of Lewis SIlkin (NI) LLP from all at Legal Island! Adam has been speaking at events and providing support to Legal Island for as long as any of us can remember, so will be sadly missed! But we hope you make the most of your retirement Adam!

1. Annual Review of Employment Law 2026
2. Case Law Reviews
3. AI and Employment Law
4. Skill Builder for HR: Leading Change Effectively
5. Data Protection
6. Why Pride is facing a backlash - from inside and outside the LGBT community
7. Unpacking the new overseas talent ‘concierge’ service
8. Ex-council chief convicted of two charges over deleting email
9. Just in Case You Missed It...
10. HR Developments
11. Employment News in the Media
12. GB Developments
13. Free Webinars This Month

Session of the Week: Bullying & Harassment: You Make the Call

Put your judgement to the test with Seamus McGranaghan, Director, O’Reilly Stewart Solicitors in this interactive, case-led session, tackling real-world bullying and harassment scenarios where every decision counts.

FIND OUT MORE

Jargon‑free employment law insights that make your job easier

The must attend  HR event of the year is back - 5 November 2026! 

Our Annual Review of Employment Law is the cornerstone event for HR professionals. Join us at the Crowne Plaza, Belfast or tune in with coffee in hand from your desk. Either way, you’ll access the insights that matter most, brought to you by expert speakers.

EARLY BIRD RATE available until 10th September 2026 at 5:00pm.

BOOK YOUR PLACE

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Akinpelu v Abbeyfield & Wesley Housing Association Ltd [2026] NIIT 28557/25IT

Summary Description: 

Claimant’s claim dismissed for being out of time.  The claimant did have a serious health condition but at the time of the primary time limit the symptoms were not such to show she was debilitated and could not present the claim.

Claimant: 

Abiodun Abosede Akinpelu

Respondent: 

Abbeyfield & Wesley Housing Association Ltd

Practical Guidance for Employers:

Another case on time limits and in this situation there was a real and frightening health condition, diagnosis and treatment.  However, the Tribunal looked behind that to the index time and the symptoms faced by the claimant.  The symptoms were the same as when the claimant was continuing to work and she could still engage in the LRA early conciliation procedure. This demonstrates that the Tribunal will not be swayed by just a diagnosis but it must be the actual effect on being able to present a claim within the statutory time limit.

Read the Review in full: 
Akinpelu v Abbeyfield & Wesley Housing Association Ltd [2026]

Erwin v Rutledge Training Ltd [2026] NIIT 20659/23

Summary Description: 

Claimant was not discriminated on the basis of her disability as the respondent had no knowledge that she had a disability within the meaning set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Claimant: 

Mary Erwin

Respondent: 

Rutledge Training Ltd

Practical Guidance for Employers:

In terms of determining whether the claimant had a disability it must be remember that it is for the claimant to prove that the definition has been met but also that the respondent had knowledge of the disability.  In this case, the information given to the employer was quite brief on the physical impairments and the claimant presented a more significant picture at the Tribunal.  However, it can only be what the respondent was aware of that can be taken into account.  This demonstrates the importance, as the respondent did here, of giving an opportunity for employees to disclose their disabilities/impairments when they commence their employment and also throughout their employment so that reasonable adjustments and other steps can be put in place as necessary.

Read the Review in full: 
Erwin v Rutledge Training Ltd [2026]

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These case reviews were written by Jason Elliott BL.  NI Tribunal decisions are available on the OITFET website.

If you have any queries or wish to comment on the reports please feel free to contact Jason at: jasondelliott@outlook.com 

Jason Elliott was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2013 and is the Associate Head of School of Law at Ulster University. As a practising barrister, he has developed a largely civil practice representing individuals, companies and public bodies in litigation.  This covers a wide range of areas including personal injuries, wills and employment law. In terms of employment law, he has represented both applicants and respondents in the Industrial Tribunal.   At Ulster University, Jason lectures extensively on the civil areas of practise such as Equity and Trusts and delivers employment law lectures for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Remember: Our case law reviews are held in our case law section on our fully-searchable employment law hub website.

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AI Recruitment: Why International CV Differences Still Matter

Artificial intelligence has transformed how employers source candidates, breaking down geographical barriers and opening access to talent from around the world. Yet while AI is making global recruitment faster and easier than ever, with 77 percent of HR teams using AI regularly, human assumptions about what a ‘good CV’ should look like are still causing businesses to overlook highly qualified candidates. HR Director looks at the global differences. HR Director has more.

AI and Directors' Duties: Practical Considerations for Boards of UK Companies

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents an important governance challenge for boards. Although AI does not create new duties, it does change how those duties are discharged in practice. This article by the team at Wilmer Hale considers how the use of AI affects the exercise of directors' duties and offers practical steps for directors and boards to take when overseeing AI-related risks. Read more.

AI for HR Weekly Podcast with Barry Phillips 🎙️

This week's episode:

Hub subscribers are beginning to request that our Chairman, Barry covers a particular AI topic in a future podcast. If you have a request, send it to him directly at barry@legal-island.com - he’ll feel like a DJ from the 80s…...🎧

You can tune into the latest episode right here - or, if you’re on the move, why not take us with you?

Listen on all major platforms: 🎧 Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Simply search for “AI for HR Weekly Podcast” and enjoy expert insights anytime, anywhere.

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Your Skill Builder perk is back: 

• Get 2 free places at this Autumn’s Skill Builder for HR sessions. Even if you used your Spring allocation.
• Multi-user subscribers: each named user gets their own free places.
• Share with colleagues using code "HubGift". Just add places to your cart and enter the code at checkout for £0.
• Check your recent email for session details and claiming instructions (and your spam folder, just in case).

Find out more about all the upcoming Skill Builder for HR sessions HERE. 

Skill Builder for HR: Leading Change Effectively

📅 14 October 2026

🕒 12:30 - 14:00 (1 hour 30 mins)

📍 Live online 

Organisational change is a priority for many businesses, but achieving lasting results is often more difficult than expected. HR professionals are frequently at the centre of change initiatives, helping leaders navigate uncertainty, maintain engagement, and support employees through periods of transition.

In this practical Skill Builder session, Denise Collins, People & Culture Director at Norbrook Laboratories, shares insights from leading complex organisational change programmes. You'll explore why change initiatives fail, how leadership behaviour and communication influence outcomes, and what HR can do to build alignment, manage resistance, and embed sustainable change across the organisation. Find out more HERE.

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ICO warns over expanding backlog as complaint caseload grows threefold in a year

The data protection regulator has revealed that, after missing out on requested funding at the last spending review, its number of cases awaiting attention is growing by 400 a month. The ICO – which is transforming to become the Information Commission later this year – said FOI complaints have increased at an unprecedented rate of 40% in just one year, rising from 7,639 in 2024-25 to 10,713 in 2025-26. More from Public Technology.

And…

Councillors' emails unacceptable, says CEO

A council boss has lambasted councillors over "unacceptable" emails sent in the past week which could pose a "significant legal risk" to the local authority. Durham County Council chief executive John Hewitt said in an email to all its councillors he had never seen such behaviour in the more than 35 years he had worked in local government, writes the BBC.

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Over the last few years, a number of councils have withdrawn their support for Pride festivals, while some big brands - perhaps nervous about being seen as too "woke" - have become hesitant to associate themselves with them. On top of all that, there's a long-running complaint from some LGBT campaigners that Pride has become overly commercialised; while the argument over trans issues has also made matters more fraught.

It's leading some to ask: what future do Pride events have? Read more on the BBC.

Want to learn more?

Join Barry Phillips, Chairman, Legal Island and  Simon Fanshawe OBE, writer, broadcaster, DEI consultant, and regular contributor to the Guardian and the Sunday Times newspapers as they rethink DEI at their FREE webinar on 8th September.

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The UK government has unveiled a new ‘concierge’ service designed to help some of the country’s fastest-growing businesses relocate international talent faster, alongside plans to reimburse select visa fees for qualifying employers. The measures form part of a broader strategy to strengthen the UK’s position as a destination for innovative, high-growth businesses operating in sectors such as digital technology, life sciences and clean energy. You can read more from People Management.

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The BBC reports a former chief executive of Mid and East Antrim Council has been convicted of two charges connected to deleting or attempting to delete an email to prevent disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Anne Donaghy has been fined £1,500. She was cleared of a third charge of trying to have an email deleted.

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The Employment Law Hub is a comprehensive, jurisdiction-specific resource designed for HR professionals, legal advisors, and business leaders. It centralises essential employment law and HR updates, expertly curated and written by leading HR and legal specialists to provide reliable, practical, and authoritative insights. We have over 700+ in depth articles and 1000+ case law reviews. As a subscriber, you have access to all of this. Check it out the full Hub here and below are some recent articles you may have missed.....

TUPE transfers: what happens to employee benefits? How do I Handle It?

We have just acquired another company and received their staff via TUPE. We are receiving lots of queries from our new employees about what parts of their previous benefits package have transferred to us. How do I handle it? Emma Doherty, Associate Director in the Employment team at Tughans LLP, provides guidance here.

Dear HR Agony Aunt: Leadership not living the values

Crystel Robbin Rynne, CEO, HRLocker provides the latest answer to your HR woes.

On paper we are a great place to work. We have the values on the wall, the wellbeing strategy, the training on speaking up - all of it! And then we have one senior guy who undoes all of it. He talks over people, gets defensive the second he is challenged, sends emails at all hours. Everyone can see it. It makes the rest of what we do look like a total box-ticking exercise, and it is driving me mad because I know people are noticing. I want to say something. But he is well above me, and I would be lying if I said I was not worried about what it would do to me. How do I raise this without it blowing up in my face?

AI Slop in the Workplace: One Employer’s Response

Barry Phillips considers how one employer is dealing with the problem of AI generated slop in the workplace.

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Five skills for managing difficult conversations

Many grievances begin with a difficult conversation that never happened: feedback withheld, tension ignored, or a performance concern left unspoken. By the time the issue reaches HR, the opportunity to resolve it early may have passed. HR Director provides guidance.

Toxic Workplace Behaviour: Why Employers Struggle to Make Change Last

HR Director reports on new research which reveals why toxic workplace behaviour keeps returning and how employers can help managers tackle negativity, disruption and workplace conflict.

Struggling with change in your workplace?

Join Denise Collins, People & Culture Director at Norbrook Laboratories, as shares insights from leading complex organisational change programmes in our next Skill Builder for HR. You'll explore why change initiatives fail, how leadership behaviour and communication influence outcomes, and what HR can do to build alignment, manage resistance, and embed sustainable change across the organisation. Find out more HERE.

And don't forgot Hub Subscribers get 2 free places at this Autumn’s Skill Builder for HR sessions.

Employers urged to do more to support bereaved workers as women disproportionately affected

The YouGov data, commissioned by Octopus Legacy, found women disproportionately shoulder more of the administrative burden when a loved one dies. More than half of women who managed an estate while working (53%) said their employer could have done more to support them, compared with a third of men (33%). Today’s Wills and Probate has more on this.

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A beauty therapist has won £32,000 at an employment tribunal after she was made redundant while experiencing ‘significant’ menopause symptoms. Chantelle Van Vliet worked as a senior aesthetic therapist at Footlaffs in Petersfield in Hampshire, which has since been struck off. From 2022 onwards, she experienced severe symptoms of perimenopause and menopause including migraines, hot flushes, and recurrent urinary tract infections. Personnel Today has more.

A sales manager was discriminated against at work by being told "nobody wants to see a pregnant person" after she offered to make a presentation to clients. Jessica Morgan was several months into her pregnancy when her boss at a wood panelling firm allegedly "sniggered" at her suggestion that she would lead the sales pitch. More from the BBC.

A new training programme is to be rolled out for healthcare staff in Northern Ireland to tackle "stress-related absenteeism" and promote a "positive culture change". The training will establish new and harmonise existing "best practice" for thousands of line managers across Northern Ireland's Health and Social Care sector (HSC NI) in a bid to better enable them to prioritise and positively impact staff wellbeing. More from Belfast Live.

A black council worker was subjected to "serious racial abuse" and faced with "dismissive" managers when she complained about it, an employment tribunal found. Managers were found to have inferred to the woman that "absorbing that kind of abuse simply 'went with the territory'". The BBC has more on this story.

A factory manager who stole £300,000 from his employers and splashed the cash on expensive foreign holidays has been jailed for more than two years. Kamil Mielczarek defrauded bosses at agricultural firm East Lothian Produce in an elaborate “ghost workers” scam by forging time sheets and invoices for bogus agency employees. Mielczarek used the names of relatives to con the family-owned firm into paying out the huge sum in fake wages in the crooked scheme that lasted over three years. More from Deadline News.

The Independent reports a school caretaker has been awarded £32,000 following allegations that he refused to accept direction from women after he raised concerns over health and safety matters with female superiors. A tribunal was told that Mark Steward "took things into his own hands" merely a week into his role, as he believed that fire drill procedures had not been adequately updated or tested. He subsequently "badgered" school staff regarding what he considered to be a series of health and safety shortcomings across the site. Read more in The Independent.

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NB: Please note these articles relate to GB and do not apply in Northern Ireland, unless otherwise stated.

Westminster Government consults on revised Tipping Code of Practice

Westminster has launched a six-week consultation on a revised draft Code of Practice on the Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips in England & Wales. The consultation closes at on 29 September 2026. Have a look at the revised Draft Tipping Code of Practice here. 

Upcoming October 2026 implementation dates for Employment Rights Act reforms

Employers and HR professionals must prepare for a wave of changes taking effect on 1 October and 30 October 2026. HR Director outlines them here.

DBS Update Service: employer guide

The Update Service is an online subscription service for individuals who hold Standard or Enhanced DBS checks that lets organisations and employers carry out a free, instant online check to view the status of an existing Standard or Enhanced DBS certificate. More on this.

Is it time to ban Meta glasses at work?

Businesses like Wetherspoons have banned customers from wearing Meta glasses on their premises altogether and UK courts and tribunals have also announced a ban on them due to the risk of covert filming. This article from LBC News looks at the risks to employers.

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Re-thinking DEI: From Consensus to Candour

📅8th September 2026 
⏰11am
📍Live online | Free to attend

REGISTER HERE.

What does effective DEI look like when organisations move beyond consensus and create cultures where people feel able to speak openly, challenge ideas and disagree constructively?

Most organisations have invested heavily in building inclusive workplaces, aiming to bring more perspectives into the room, improve decision-making and enable people to bring their full selves to work.

But a lot of HR leaders are quietly reporting something else.

Meetings where nobody says what they actually think. Colleagues who've concluded the safest contribution is no contribution at all. Capable people stepping around the conversations that matter most, in case they get the words wrong.

If any of that feels familiar, this session is for you.

The webinar will be presented by Barry Phillips, Chairman, Legal Island and  Simon Fanshawe OBE, writer, broadcaster, DEI consultant, and regular contributor to the Guardian and the Sunday Times newspapers. 

Enjoy your LONG weekend!

Legal Island

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