After a year in which the Employment Rights Act 2025 has, understandably, dominated the employment law agenda, we’re giving it a well-earned rest and, instead, are focusing on key cases and other developments and emerging issues that HR professionals need to have on their radar.
This year’s cases have produced some fascinating and sometimes surprising lessons. We have seen sexual harassment claims turn on whether apparently inappropriate behaviour was actually “unwanted”, while cases involving employees with ADHD have demonstrated the risks for employers who fail to consider properly the impact of disability when responding to inappropriate workplace behaviour.
Together, these developments present HR with an increasingly complex balancing act: how do you protect colleagues, maintain appropriate standards of behaviour and meet obligations to prevent harassment, while ensuring that disability and neurodiversity are properly understood and taken into account?
Drawing on the year’s key cases and developments, we will look beyond simply what the law says and focus on what it means for the difficult decisions HR professionals are making every day.
Our interactive end-of-year review will examine the important developments from 2026, including:
- the potential personal liability of individual employees (such as managers) where reasonable adjustments are not implemented;
- the DWP's expert panel report and recommendations on creating more neuro-inclusive workplaces e.g by focusing on individual needs rather than labels/formal diagnoses
- the practical challenges of responding to AI-generated grievances and ET claims; and
- the use of smart glasses in the workplace and the employment and data-protection questions raised by emerging technology.
