Employment Law – Maternity Leave – Nature, Capacity, Place

The case of Blundell v Governing Body of St Andrews Catholic Primary School and Another [2007], concerned a woman who claimed that she was discriminated on the grounds of her pregnancy. Regulation 18 of the Maternity and Parental Leave (etc) Regulations 1999 (“the Regulations”) provides:’(2) An employee who returns to work … is entitled to return from leave to the job in which she was employed before her absence, or, if it is not reasonably practicable for the employer to permit her to return to that job, to another job which is both suitable for her and appropriate for her to do in the circumstances’.Regulation 2(1) provides:’”Job” in relation to an employee returning after … maternity leave … means the nature of the work which she is employed to do in accordance with her contract and the capacity and place in which she is so employed’.The claimant was a teacher at the first respondent school. In the school year 2002 to 2003 she was given the responsibility of being a teacher for the yellow reception class. In June 2003, she told the second respondent, who was the head teacher, that she was pregnant.The head teacher’s standard practice towards the end of the school year was to ask each teacher what their preferences were on class allocation for the coming academic year. She usually tried to keep each teacher in a particular role for two years. Having been told of the impending maternity leave, the head teacher asked the claimant if she would undertake “floating duties” in the following year.The claimant originally agreed, however, the next day told the head teacher that she did not wish to have a “floating role”. The head teacher then told the claimant that she had decided, reluctantly due to her concern about the disruption to the children, to allow the claimant to teach reception yellow again.Subsequently, on the 5th of December, before the end of the school term, the claimant took sick leave because she was suffering from a pregnancy related condition. She then had her baby in January 2004. She was not due to return to work until the start of the autumn term and the head teacher did not ask her for her preference as to class allocation in June 2004.Shortly before her return to work the head teacher offered her the option of a “floating role” or class teacher of class two. The claimant opted for the latter, although she had never taught year two previously and, on her case, year two involved heavy responsibility.The claimant subsequently presented a claim for sex discrimination in the employment tribunal, complaining that she had suffered a number of detriments by reason of her pregnancy. The tribunal dismissed the claim and so the claimant appealed to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.On appeal, an issue arose as to the meaning of “job” in the phrase “the job in which she was employed before her absence” in regulation 18(2) of the Regulations.The appeal tribunal held as follows:The aim of the Regulations was to provide that a returnee came back to a work situation as near as possible to that she left. The purpose of the Regulations was continuity, preferably avoiding dislocation. The contract was not definitive. The phrase “in accordance with her contract” qualified only the ‘nature’ of the work. The tribunal felt that capacity was more than ‘status’, although might encompass it. It was deemed a factual label and so was descriptive of the function which the employee served in doing work of the nature she did. The fact that it was a factual label, and so not determined purely by the contract, was most readily demonstrated by considering the word ‘place’, which was also not purely contractual.The level of specificity with which the three matters ‘nature’, ‘capacity’ and ‘place’ were to be addressed was critical and the central question was how the level of specificity should be determined and by whom.The question was essentially one of factual determination and judgment and hence for the tribunal at first instance.In approaching the question, the tribunal had to have in mind both the purposes of the legislation and the fact that the Regulations themselves provided for exceptional cases. These exceptional cases being where it was not reasonably practicable for the employer to permit her to return to her previous job, the employer might provide for her return to another job which was both suitable for her and appropriate for her to do in the circumstances.The legislation sought to ensure that there was as little dislocation as reasonably possible in her working life, and given that the purpose of the legislation was to protect the employee there was no need to construe ‘the same job’ as covering a broad spectrum of work in order to ensure an appropriate balance between employer and employee.The term “Job” could be quite specifically defined. Leeway was provided by an employer being able to provide a job which was not the same job, but was still suitable. Where a precise position was variable, a tribunal was not obliged to freeze time at the precise moment its occupant took maternity leave, but might have regard to the normal range within which variation had previously occurred.In this case, the tribunal had given the right answer on the findings of fact it had made.Throughout its decision was the theme that the claimant could be required to teach any class as asked by her head, and that was a real, not simply a theoretical requirement deriving from the contract alone.§ The nature of her work, according to her contract, was as a teacher.§ Her capacity, as a matter of fact, was viewed more realistically as a class teacher than as a teacher of reception yellow.§ The place of work could not be said to be the reception classroom, but the school.The post the claimant returned to was the same post, if the level of specificity was properly to be regarded as ‘teacher’. If it was temporarily more specific, because the precise post varied, the question was whether the job on return fell outside the boundary of what was permissible. It was clear that the tribunal found that it was not outside the normal range of variability which the claimant could have expected.It was therefore held that the appeal would be dismissed on all grounds save that in relation to the failure to ask the claimant in June 2004 to state a preference as to the class she wished to take in the following year.If you require further information please contact us at [email protected] or Visit http://www.rtcoopers.com/practice_employment.php© RT COOPERS, 2007. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

Your Complete Guide to Refurbished Gadgets

Refurbished gadgets are creating an unprecedented buzz in the Indian electronics marketplace. Knowing our affinity towards discounts and sales, choosing a mobile phone or tablet that has undergone refurbishment is undoubtedly a smart buying decision. If you are still in a fix about what these gadgets mean for you or where you can buy them, here is an all-inclusive guide to buying refurbished products. Have a look!What are Refurbished Gadgets?Many a times, certain products encounter minor glitches during their initial run. These products are reworked upon by trained technicians in order to achieve peak levels of performance. They are then sold as refurbished products to customers. Since they don’t bear the tag of “brand new”, they are offered at huge discounts to increase their competitiveness. Authorized retailers selling such gadgets ensure that they are checked and certified for quality benchmarks and are accompanied by a warranty.Buying Refurbished Products Means Huge SavingsThe first and the biggest consideration for buying a reworked smartphone is its price tag. A Samsung Galaxy Note Edge for just Rs. 35,199 or HTC One M8 for only Rs. 26,599. Sounds tempting, right? This is why gadgets belonging to this particular category are a great option. It lets you buy your favorite gadgets at incredible prices without you, having to compromise on its quality or performance.Things to Keep in Mind When BuyingHere are a few things you need to keep in mind when you buy gadgets that have undergone refurbishment:

Do your research. Sift the internet for your chosen product. Know how much its brand new counterpart costs and go for the refurnished version only if it looks like a steal deal.

A number of online retailers sell such products. Make sure to go through customer testimonials to know about their experience with the seller.

Once you receive the product, check if it is in working condition and is accompanied by all accessories or not.
Where Should You Buy FromNow, this is important. If you are looking for quality certified refurnished products, it is advised that you make your purchase from an authorized retailer. Avoid shady markets for they don’t guarantee after-sales services. If you are looking at brand warranty and after sales support, staking your money at a trusted retailer is the smart thing to do. Meanwhile, you must verify the seller before buying any gadgets from anywhere on the internet.

Digital Marketing: Basic Strategies Every Beginner Must Know

What is Digital Marketing?Digital marketing refers to the usage of online advertising tools to project products and services to potential customers. Digital Marketing has become a key component of the marketing strategy of most companies today, because as much as a third of the world’s population now spends time online.What are the benefits?Digital marketing provides advantages that were previously unprecedented. With over 2 billion people having an active online presence, online marketing provides an incredible outreach. Also, most social platforms provide their services for free, making them very cost-effective. People also tend to prefer an online marketing approach because of its personal touch and interactive nature. With these features, online advertising provides opportunities that traditional marketing hardly can; and even if it could, it would be a financial and logistical nightmare.Now that we have established the importance of digital marketing, here are the basic strategies one must apply to get maximum results:1. Know your audience: It is important that you discern exactly what your brand is, what it stands for, and which people make up your target demographic. This knowledge will enable you select the most appropriate digital platforms for your brand, as well as use available online tools to target customers that will most likely lead to sales conversions.2. Have a comprehensive strategy: This involves you defining specific goals your brand intends to achieve with online advertising. This allows you to leverage on particular strengths of relevant e-marketing platforms and also use analytical tools such as Google Analytics ton track and manage progress and goal achievement.3. Have Optimized and Integrated accounts across all relevant platforms: It is not just enough to have accounts across several online marketing platforms; you must also make sure that they are functioning to their fullest capability. This includes rich media for all your social media accounts (i.e. quality photos and videos) and regular interaction with your customers; as well as a fast and aesthetically pleasing website with enough backlinks and very active SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Most e-marketing platforms also provide facilities for cross-platform integration, enabling you to seamlessly synchronize your brand’s online presence; and also make it easier for potential customers to locate your brand across different platforms.4. Have a consistent voice: Carve out a particular niche for yourself which is relevant to your brand, and remain consistent to it throughout all your online activity. Saying something today and something else tomorrow could easily confuse potential customers and chase them away.5. Provide quality content: With regards to your internet marketing content, go with the acronym QERO, which stands for Quality, Engaging, Regular and Original. If your online content consistently possesses these qualities, you can be sure of comfortably winning over the hearts of several customers.6. Use Smart Tools: There are a plethora of online marketing platforms, and handling each one separately could be cumbersome. Instead, make your work easier and smarter by using the variety of smart tools available. Tools like Buffer, Everypost and Hootsuite enable you handle several social media accounts at once, MailChimp is great for e-mail marketing, and Adroll helps you re-market to customers who are already loyal.7. Combine with Traditional Marketing: In as much as digital marketing has immense potential, traditional marketing should not be jettisoned just yet. In fact, the best results are achieved when digital and traditional marketing strategies are combined. So by all means have a robust online presence, but also complement that with TV and Radio ads, as well as the timeless one-on-one customer relationship.Digital marketing has developed rapidly over the past few years, and it promises to be a major player in the marketing industry for years to come. Hence, the sooner you get acquainted with it, the better; and the more you save yourself the unnecessary expense of outsourcing your online advertising to a digital marketing agency.

The Digital IQ of Prestige Brands in China

An exclusive report from L2 and Labbrand The massive potential for retail businesses in China is no surprise to anyone-least of all prestige brands. After years of annual double-digit growth, China’s booming economy has left tens of millions of consumers seeking new ways to spend their disposable income. In 2009, China became the world’s second largest luxury market behind Japan, surpassing the United States.Even though these trends were recognizable at least 20 years ago, many prestige brands are still playing catch-up in this diverse and rapidly changing marketplace. With 384 million internet users-more than the U.S. and Japan combined-much of the competition for customers and brand loyalty will play out online. The investment prestige brands make in their own digital competence could be a deciding factor in their ability to survive and thrive in China, and is likely to become increasingly important as the market matures.What is Digital IQ and How is it Measured?In July of 2010, L2, a think tank for prestige brands, partnered with Labbrand to measure and rank the digital competence of one hundred prestige brands in China[1]. The measurement methodology, “Digital IQ,” gives each brand a combined score based on website translation, functionality and content, search engine optimization (SEO), social media performance, and digital marketing effortsDigital IQ Ranking: ChinaA Closer Look at the NumbersThese rankings reveal several interesting trends and correlations with other available metrics. For example, the eight fashion brands measured show a strong positive correlation (0.72) between Digital IQ and brand value as reported in BusinessWeek’s annual 100 Best Global Brands report[2]. For the six automotive brands measured in both studies, the correlation is also strongly positive, at 0.61. These correlations do not necessarily mean that increasing Digital IQ guarantees an enhanced brand value. Nevertheless, the strength of these correlations suggests that the relationship between brand value and Digital IQ is not arbitrary. It is possible that valuable brands are more likely to have higher brand awareness, and therefore enjoy higher returns on the same or smaller investments in digital. Alternatively, valuable brands may be more likely to have higher marketing budgets and invest more heavily in digital media.Prestige brands with the highest Digital IQ scores are breaking away from the pack. In mature markets, measurements of digital competence show prestige brands tightly bunched together-leaders do not achieve significant separation from brands with average Digital IQ scores. But in China, digital Geniuses are not just in the lead-they’re winning big. For example, the five brands in the Genius category boast a mean Digital IQ more than 25 points higher than that of the next five brands. In comparison, brands ranked six through ten show a mean difference of only 13.2 points compared to those ranked eleven through fifteen. Digital leaders start “breaking away” at an inflection point around Digital IQ 120. Brands at the bottom end of the ranking demonstrate a similar but opposite effect-they lag significantly behind brands with average Digital IQ scores.Fifty-nine percent of the luxury brands in the study of Digital IQ in China were also measured in a separate study of the Digital IQ of luxury brands in the U.S., dated September 2009. Brands measured in both indices demonstrated a correlation of 0.58 between their Chinese Digital IQ and their U.S. Digital IQ, suggesting that digital competence in one market can be leveraged in another. Beauty brands Lancme, Clarins, and Este Lauder show the greatest positive disparity between Chinese and U.S. Digital IQ. This suggests their recognition of the opportunity to build brands in China through digital media. Meanwhile, champagne brands Veuve Clicquot, Mot & Chandon, and Dom Prignon demonstrate the largest negative disparity-none of them support a Chinese language version of their brand site. Negative disparities may speak to inability or carelessness when translating digital competence from West to East.Missed Opportunities and Winning StrategiesMost prestige brands earning high Digital IQ scores in China share at least two attributes: local relevance and availability across a broad range of media.Local relevance stems partly from familiarity with Chinese sites like Baidu, Kaixin, and Youku, which can be loosely compared to Google, Facebook, and YouTube, respectively. But brands doing business in China must recognize that for Western sites and their Chinese counterparts, different strategies are required; simply translating site content is often ineffective.While homegrown search engine Baidu boasts 62 percent market share in China[3], only 39 percent of measured prestige brands come up first in its organic results when searching by English brand name. Meanwhile, 94 percent of brand sites came up first on Google.cn (prior to its departure from China) when using English names. When searching with Chinese names, approximately 30 percent of brand sites are not among the top three search results on either search engine. This indicates the difficulty of brand name translation for many multinational brands. These numbers suggest that many brands approach search visibility with a Google-centric mentality that fails to recognize the Baidu algorithm and other local nuances.One way brands can enhance SEO is by creating more opportunities for consumer interaction through a combination of social network sites (SNS), microsites, bulletin-board systems (BBS) and e-commerce and mobile websites.Although many prestige brands are eliciting thousands of user-generated comments, video uploads, blog posts, and photos on popular SNS like RenRen, Qzone, Kaixin001, and YouKu, very few are interacting directly with consumers on these sites. As consumers are increasingly expecting brand communications to be interactive, rather than one-way broadcasts, digitally savvy brands that are beginning to engage directly with users on SNS platforms stand to gain an edge. Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW host contests on RenRen, while Dior has a page on Qzone. Digital Genius Lancme boasts an official group on Kaixin001 with more than 250,000 members. Johnnie Walker also hosts a group on the platform.Four of the brands in the study have invested in branded online communities. Digital Genius Lancme launched an online community called Rose Beauty in 2006 and has four million subscribers. Este Lauder and Clarins also host branded beauty communities. BMW has created a community for the estimated 150,000 BMW drivers in China through its MyBMWClub.cn site. Meanwhile, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche have created simple-interface BBS to help facilitate discussions with avid fans. Although the appropriateness of microsites as a means of online consumer interaction is debatable, efforts from these brands demonstrate a heightened commitment to the Chinese marketplace.On average, brands that embrace e-commerce boast Digital IQ scores 50 points higher than brands that do not sell online. The size of the e-commerce market in China may have quadrupled from 2006 to 2009[4], but only ten of the 100 prestige brands in the study offer online transactions. The Beauty & Skincare category leads with six of 13 brands selling online. Many prestige brands opt against e-commerce for fear it will reflect poorly on the brand’s premium status and diminish control over the sales experience. However, as fashion brand and China first-mover Ports 1961 is the only foreign brand outside of the Beauty category to sell online, making e-commerce available would be a clear point of differentiation within many prestige categories.In addition to website enhancements, SEO, and SNS, it is imperative for luxury brands to develop a mobile strategy. There are an estimated 745 million mobile phone subscribers in China[5], and more than one quarter of mobile users access the internet through their phones[6]. China has considerably lower in-home internet penetration than most developed nations, and many Chinese consumers move directly from no internet to mobile internet. Yet, only 42 percent of the measured brands have mobile-enabled sites. Hong Kong brand Shanghai Tang is one of the first luxury brands to incorporate a Chinese language iPhone application.ConclusionWhile at least rudimentary digital competence is essential for prestige brands operating in China, specific digital strategies should be customized based on a brand’s vision and personality, opportunities and positioning, rather than a “check box” approach. As with other brand communication and media, digital strategy should be informed by comprehensive and up-to-date market research, strengthened by sound analysis and concrete brand positioning, and executed with distinctive and compelling creative work. Ultimately, brands with a deeper understanding of their Chinese customers, local competition, and familiarity with their own reputation and strengths will fare better, both online and off.[1]“L2 Digital IQ Index: China”. Scott Galloway &, Doug Guthrie, June 16, 2009.[2]“100 Best Global Brands”, BusinessWeek, September 2009[3]“China Online”, eMarketer, December 2010[4]iResearch, February 2009[5]Ministry of the Information Industry, People’s Republic of China, August 2009[6]“Global Device Insight Report”, Nielsen, October 2009