Tom Street

Tom Street qualified as a solicitor in 2003 and has over 20 years experience in employment and litigation law. He studied law at the University of Manchester before undertaking the legal practice course at the College of Law in Guildford, going on to complete his legal training at a firm in Chancery Lane, London. Once fully qualified, he moved to a niche litigation practice in the City of London. In 2010, Tom set up his own legal practice, Tom Street & Co Solicitors and as part of this, in accordance with his strongly held objective to provide everyone with an easy pathway to justice he established the online portals Do I Have A Case? and Tribunal Claim. These websites are trading names of Tom Street & Co Solicitors.

Flexible Working Request Letter Example

August 2, 2023October 19, 2017 by Tom Street

Can anyone make a flexible working request? In order to make and write a flexible working request letter, the employee must have been employed by the same employer for 26 weeks. An employee is only entitled to make one flexible working request every 12 months. If the request is rejected, the employee is entitled to appeal. However, they … Read more

What does “summary dismissal” mean?

September 17, 2019October 17, 2017 by Tom Street

A summary dismissal is when an employer dismisses an employee without notice or without payment in lieu of notice usually for an act of gross misconduct.

Case Study: Uplift of injury to feelings awards in discrimination cases

September 17, 2019October 11, 2017 by Tom Street

The Court of Appeal has recently provided clarification as to whether uplifts in damages should be applied to injury to feelings awards in Employment Tribunal discrimination cases. The personal injury case of Simmons vs Castle provides authority for an uplift to damages of 10% in certain types of personal injury claims. The increase in compensation … Read more

Time off for religious observance

September 17, 2019October 9, 2017 by Tom Street

There is no legal right to time off for religious duties, prayer, worship and festivals. That said, employees who have been refused time off for religious festivals have brought successful claims in employment tribunals for religious discrimination where there has not been a legitimate business reason behind the refusal. Muslim employees in a Tesco store … Read more

Gender pay gap reporting: Why have so few revealed their data so far?

August 2, 2023October 8, 2017 by Tom Street

In a bid to narrow the gender pay gap (the difference between the pay of male and female employees) the government introduced legislation requiring all employers with over 250 staff to publish details of their pay gap by March or April 2018. Recently released figures show that only 85 of a possible 9000 organisations have … Read more

Case Study: Older employee told “better suited to traditional agency”

September 17, 2019October 7, 2017 by Tom Street

The recently reported case of Gomes v Henworth Limited and another. The Claimant had been employed since 2009 by an estate agent as an Administrative Assistant. During a conversation about alleged shortcomings with her work (errors in a letter that was sent out). The tribunal found that the second Respondent, Mr Graham Gold, had said … Read more

Whistle-Blowing Claims: What is meant by “in the public interest?”

September 17, 2019October 6, 2017 by Tom Street

As of 2013 (the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013) Claimants in whistle-blowing claims have to establish that the public interest disclosure that they rely upon was made “in the public interest”. A recent Court of Appeal decision, Chesterton Global Limited & Another v Nurmohamed & Another [2007 EWCA Civ 979] has provided some additional insights … Read more

Cohabitees and others not protected by marriage discrimination

June 9, 2021October 4, 2017 by Tom Street

Originally conceived to prevent women from being dismissed upon marrying, marriage discrimination now prevents those who are married or civil partners from being subjected to any type of discrimination. Section 8 of the Equality Act 2010 does not protect: single people; people who live together; the divorced or those whose civil partnerships have been dissolved; … Read more

Ramadan: A Guide for Employers

September 17, 2019October 3, 2017 by Tom Street

Ramadan is a worldwide month of fasting observed by Muslims in the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar. Ramadan will next fall on the 16th May 2018 until the 14th June 2018. Muslims avoid eating or drinking liquids between daybreak and sunset. There are exceptions for the ill, diabetics, breastfeeding mothers and other groups … Read more

Does the law protect those who live together but are not married or civil partners?

June 9, 2021October 2, 2017 by Tom Street

The law does a lot to protect the rights of people who are married and in civil partnerships but does not recognise the rights of people in other types of relationship so readily.