FETA members attended a `managing a business in a recession` seminar recently, presented by Clarkslegal Partner David Rintoul. The seminar focused on two issues key to the current economic climate, namely protection of rights under a contract and how to enhance cash and recovery of monies due....
Clarkslegal has advised Royal Ten Cate NV (listed on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange) in respect of the acquisition of the AML group of companies....
English bankruptcy laws are much more lenient than other European countries. Does that mean anyone can choose to make themselves bankrupt here and what can be done to stop this happening?...
New planning requirements for houses in multiple occupation...
As it is announced that we are coming out of recession, now may be a good time for employers to reorganise their workforce to ensure that the company is in the best shape for the future. The need to slim down applies just as much to businesses as it does to our own personal quests for self-improvement. With headlines claiming that the recession is finally over (albeit on the basis of a minuscule 0.1% growth), it is clear that the leaner the business, the better its chances will be for survival in 2010 and beyond....
Following the Court of Appeal decision in Muschett v HM Prison Service (2010), it seems that it will be harder for agency workers to gain protection from discrimination at the hands of an end-user....
There are many ways to challenge a Will or its effect on an estate. It may be that, instead of pursuing a claim that the Will is invalid, your claim should be addressed to a professional adviser who drafted the Will or gave tax advice etc (especially if a prior Will would then be effective which did not have acceptable terms or there is no Will at all)....
Lord Justice Jackson`s Final Report on civil litigation costs ("the Report") was published on 14 January 2010. Two recent cases highlight how costs can turn a winning party into a loser: Earles -v- Barclays Bank and Barr -v- Biffa Waste Services...
The Woolf Reforms ten years on - ten facts...
We are delighted to announce the appointment of John Warchus from Shadbolt and promotion Chris Tayton, member of the firm`s Dispute Resolution team....
The Court of Appeal has held in Parkwood Leisure Ltd v Alemo-Herron (2010) that a contractual entitlement to a pay rise, agreed in collective agreement negotiations to which the transferee was not a party, did not bind the transferee following a TUPE transfer....
The ECJ has held that a German law which discounts employment before the age of 25 when calculating statutory notice periods is age discriminatory (Kucukdeveci v Swedex (2010)). The ECJ also confirmed that non-discrimination on the grounds of age is a general principle of equal treatment in EU law. National courts should, if need be, disapply any principles of national law that are contrary to this principle....
In another case concerning age this week, but this time in the UK, an employment tribunal has held that a 42 year old Head of Marketing, who did not fit a "younger" profile, was subjected to age discrimination....
For a disability to be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the effects of the impairment must be long-term. "Long-term" means the condition must have lasted, or be likely to last, for at least 12 months....
The ECJ has considered the use of age limits in two German cases this week. In both cases, the ECJ held that the age limits were not contrary to the Equal Treatment Directive....
We`ve heard it before - headlines proclaiming new legislation is "the biggest shake-up" to employment law since, well, the last big shake-up. In the case of the Equality Bill such headlines may be justified....
As we reported back in October, the Government has commenced consultation on the default retirement age. The Government is now seeking, by 1 February 2010, information from employers on the following issues:...
The EU Pregnant Workers Directive provides for the health and safety protection of pregnant workers and new mothers. In the case of Parviainen v Finnair Oyj (2009) the Advocate General has given his opinion that the Directive does not require an employer to pay a pregnant worker, who is temporarily transferred to a different job to prevent her being exposed to health risks, the average salary that she earned prior to the transfer. Instead, the employer is required to provide her with an adequate allowance, which must be no less than a male or female worker is paid for doing an equivalent job....
Public Sector Partner Kirstin Parker recently sat on the panel to launch the CBI`s new report "Public Services that don`t cost the earth: designing and delivering in partnership"....
The EAT in Dansie v Metropolitan Police (2009) has confirmed that the Metropolitan Police were within their rights to require a male employee to cut his shoulder length hair. The overall dress code was equally balanced between male and female employees. Consequently, the police had not discriminated against Mr Dansie under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. This case of confirms the correct legal test is whether, applying contemporary standards and conventions, as well as the specific needs of the profession in question, the employer`s dress code as a whole requires an equivalent level of smartness between the sexes....