In the recent case of Spreadex Ltd -v- Cochrane [2012] EWHC 1290 (Comm), the High Court has held that a term in a Customer Agreement appearing on the website of a spread betting bookmaker was not binding on a consumer....
In the recent case of Argos Ltd & Others -v- Leather Trade House Ltd (formerly BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd) [2012] EWHC 1348 (QB), the High Court has held that Argos and Homebase can reclaim from Leather Trade House millions of pounds of compensation which they paid out to their customers who suffered skin irritation from their products....
The EAT has recently heard Taurus Group Ltd v Crofts and another UKEAT/0024/12, which is a significant case for second generation outsourcing and commercial property transactions. The EAT followed its earlier decision in Hunter that there can be no service provision change under TUPE if there has been a change in the identity of the client to whom the service is provided as well as a change o...
Under S139 (1) (b) (i) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 an employee is dismissed by reason of redundancy if their dismissal was wholly or mainly because their employer`s requirements for employees doing work of a particular kind has ceased, diminished or is expected to do so. The leading case of Safeway Stores Plc v Burrell [1997] IRLR 200 EAT confirmed that "it is necessary to look at the ov...
The 2011/2012 employment tribunal statistics have been published. The key findings are below: Employment Tribunals (ET) received an overall total of 186,300 claims during 2011-12, a 15% fall compared to last year. When compared with the 2010-11 data, there were falls both in single and multiple claims of 2% and 19% respectively. The number of jurisdictional complaintswas 321,800 in 2011-12,...
The Government Construction Strategy requires that a Level 2 Building information modelling (BIM) (with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic) is in place and in use on construction and infrastructure projects by 2016 at the latest....
Changes are soon to be made to the present system of criminal records checks, including the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau and the Independent Safeguarding Authority to form the "Disclosure and Barring Service". The changes, made under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, were first set in motion two years ago when the government put an immediate halt to the requirement for individuals working with children or vulnerable adults to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority, insisting that the Vetting and Barring Scheme ( the "VBS") needed to be scaled back to "common-sense levels"....
In Crisp v Apple (UK), Mr Crisp had been employed by Apple (UK) and he was dismissed for gross misconduct having been found to have written a number of derogatory comments on a "private" Facebook page, outside working hours. One of his Facebook "friends" saw the comments, printed them off and obligingly passed them to the store manager....
The Government has launched a consultation to consider changes to the rules on collective redundancies....
Two new Immigration Resources are now available on Buddy: Right to work checking process - this is a helpful flowchart setting out when an employer should carry out checks in relation to prospective and current employees. Right to work checks - who is an employee? - Trying to establish who is an employee for the purposes of the preventing illegal working regulations is a common query. This reso...
With the worsening situation in Syria, it was not unexpected that the BBC reported at the end of last week that the head of the Syrian Olympic Committee - General Mowaffak Joumaa - has been banned from attending the London Games. However the controversy of the decision lies in the fact that the International Olympic Committee`s stance has been one of avoiding political interference - and it is th...
In the case of Mitchells of Lancaster (Brewers) Ltd v Tattersall it was decided that the use of subjective redundancy criteria was not considered to be unacceptable. Mr Tattersall was one of the five senior managers at Lancaster (Brewers) Ltd, who was unfairly dismissed after a flawed redundancy selection process, but within a 20% Polkey deduction. The Company appealed on several grounds, but th...
Earlier this year, the Independent reported that immigration does not cause unemployment. Research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research found that the opposite may be true and that increased immigration could reduce unemployment rates. Unemployment has risen sharply since early 2008, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics which show that there are now...
As more businesses look to transact business abroad and enter lucrative new markets, inevitably senior personnel with knowledge and understanding of those markets will be recruited from overseas to work in the UK to spearhead development....
Dr Norman Milligan (a consultant neurologist with 37 years experience), was forced to retire at the age of 59 in 2010, from his role at Poole NHS Foundation Trust. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. This had developed as he had unfortunately watched a relative die in intensive care in March of the same year and consequently started to suffer from anxiety, night-terrors a...
The Government has written to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) today setting out its remit for its 2013 Report....
In the recent decision in Wright Hassall LLP v Morris (2012), the Court was asked to determine whether an administrator was personally liable for an award of damages and costs entered against two companies in administration....
There are many different ways that a dispute can be resolved other than through the Courts. Since the Civil Procedure Rules were implemented in 1999, there has been a strong emphasis on encouraging parties to try to settle their differences out of Court wherever possible. In particular, the Courts have encouraged parties to resolve their disputes through mediation....
Latest survey shows that we are not as happy as we were....
Late yesterday evening at the second reading of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, the Government announced plans to introduce "settlement agreements" for all employers. The aim is to make it easier for small employers to offer employees a financial incentive to leave voluntarily before a formal dispute arises....