The Lawdown Episode 27: Naomi Osaka Pregnancy Announcement; The Metaverse and the Future of Work; Storming of Brazilian Congress; Gender Neutral Brit Awards Nominations

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Happy New Year and best wishes for 2023 from the Lawdown Podcast team! We are delighted to kick off our first Lawdown podcast of the year discussing our take on the employment, partnership and other legal issues behind some fresh news stories.

In our latest episode of The Lawdown, Partners Beth Hale and Emma Bartlett and Senior Associate Wonu Sanda discuss the following:

1. Naomi Osaka pregnancy announcement: we focus on the changing attitudes and practices towards pregnant and returning mothers in high performance sport. We also explore how maternity rights, protections and facilities have been used to support working mothers in traditional workplaces and the parallel maternity and family friendly advancements developing in the tennis world.
2. The Metaverse and the future of work: is the prospect of our workplaces being transported to the developing online virtual reality world – the metaverse – closer than we think? We consider some of the potential benefits and legal and practical challenges (including discrimination and employee wellbeing) that the Metaverse might give rise to and the interplay with employee management and interaction issues observed, following the wider post-pandemic adoption of remote working practices.
3. Storming of the Brazilian Congress: the recent footage of protesters storming the Brazilian congress and Supreme Court building shocked the world and raises employment questions as to whether employers can discipline those who are caught on video. We discuss this and the difficult issues that employers may encounter when seeking to manage clashing political views between employees expressed both inside and outside of the workplace.
4. Gender Neutral Brit Awards Nominations: with one of the UK’s biggest music award ceremonies, the Brit Awards, scrapping its male and female best artist categories for a gender neutral ‘Artist of the Year’ category, we discuss the backlash the Brit Awards has received for filling its nominees with an all-male line-up. We consider why and how has this happened and what employers can learn about diversity and equality issues.