Employment Law Coffee Break: Employment Rights Act, personal liability for reasonable adjustments and our latest incentives update
Published on 8 October 2026
Welcome to our latest Coffee Break in which we look at the latest legal and practical developments for UK employers
At a glance
Tribunal time limits have doubled for most claims, subject to transitional rules on the relevant date.
Acas is consulting on a revised flexible working code ahead of new statutory rules expected in 2027.
A recent EAT ruling exposes individual managers to personal liability for mishandling reasonable adjustments.
Employment Rights Act update
Webinar on the new harassment duties
New duties will strengthen the steps employers must take to prevent sexual harassment and bring significant exposure to claims from third parties. Employment partner Anna Elliott will be joined by Alice Spicer-Edwards and Maeve Gillespie in our Employment team and Matthew Vernon in our Health and Safety team for our webinar on Monday 12 October (10:00 to 10:30). They will examine what “prevention” really means in practice, from policies and training to culture and enforcement. We look forward to you joining us. Register here.
Following on from our earlier webinar on unfair dismissal, this week Employment partner Lara Fatemi and Incentives partner Michael Carter looked at the removal of the compensation cap and what this means for private equity firms. Watch the recording.
Sign up to further webinars in our ERA series.
Employment tribunal time limits extended from three to six months
On 1 October 2026, regulations came into force extending the time period to bring most employment tribunal claims from three to six months.
Transitional provisions apply so that the six-month time limit only applies to claims where the effective date of termination or the date of the act, conduct or failure complained of (or the date of the last act or failure in a series) is on or after 1 October 2026.
Claims based on a relevant date before 1 October 2026 remain subject to the previous three-month time limit. It remains the case that a tribunal may extend time under existing rules where, depending on the type of claim, it has not been reasonably practicable for the claim to be brought within the limitation period or it is just and equitable to extend time.
Acas publishes consultation on updated statutory Code of Practice on flexible working requests
Following the government's consultation response, Acas has published a draft revised statutory Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests which is open for consultation until 17 December 2026.
The revised code reflects the steps identified in the government's response and identifies four principles, designed to help employers reach reasonable decisions: reaching decisions based on evidence; adapting where possible to enable a request; working together to find solutions and acting transparently and consistently. Examples are included for employers on following these principles.
The code also contains updated guidance on how to reach a reasonable decision, how to consult with employees, handling requests that may involve reasonable adjustments and managing multiple requests for flexible working arrangements within the same team.
It is anticipated that the revised code will come into force alongside the new statutory rules in autumn 2027. Acas will also be updating its non-statutory guidance on flexible working.
EAT confirms individual employees can be personally liable for failure to make reasonable adjustments
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that while the duty to make reasonable adjustments under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 is imposed on "the employer", as with other protections against discrimination, an employer may be held vicariously liable for an employee's discriminatory act under section 109 Equality Act 2010. It also found that "when an employee is held to have committed an act of discrimination for which an employer is vicariously liable then the employee is equally liable" under section 110 Equality Act 2010.
The EAT confirmed that the tribunal has "no discretion… to refuse to make a finding in contravention of section 110 so long as the conditions for liability under that section are met" and that this is the case irrespective of whether the employer successfully establishes a defence to vicarious liability on the basis that it took all reasonable steps to prevent the discrimination. While not legally binding, the EAT noted that the EHRC Employment Code of Practice gives the following example:
"A line manager fails to make reasonable adjustments for a machine operator with multiple sclerosis, even though the machine operator has made the line manager aware that he needs various adjustments. The line manager is not aware that she has acted unlawfully because she failed to attend equality and diversity training, provided by her employer. The line manager could be liable personally for her actions as her employer's action, in providing training, could be enough to meet the statutory defence."
What does this mean for employers?
This decision will affect all those who make decisions in respect of statutory reasonable adjustments. While reasonable adjustments are generally viewed as employer led, the EAT decision confirms that individuals directly involved in handling, or failing to handle, an adjustment request are at risk of personal liability.
Where a manager is acting on the instructions of the employer at a more senior level of authority, the liability is more likely to be directed at the employer. Personal liability is likely to arise where a manager fails to take responsibility for their obligations to act responsibly in respect of their disabled team members. Employers may also see claimants adding individual managers to claims as a litigation tactic.
Latest updates from our incentives team
Our latest Employee Incentives Update covers the upcoming removal of the unfair dismissal compensatory cap, future changes to HMRC's notification process for tax-advantaged enterprise management incentive (EMI) options and the phased introduction of mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind.
Please get in touch with Michael Carter, Anika Chandra or your usual Osborne Clarke contact if you would like to discuss this further.
