Two recent cases, one in Supreme Court and the other in the High Court give an interesting illustration of the approach taken to interpret a contract. Although in each case the court applied the same legal test, it reached the opposite result. ...
Liquidated damages clauses are commonly used in construction contracts as a solution to deal with specified breaches. However, the courts have refused to enforce liquidated damages which are deemed to be a penalty....
This week the Government announced the new Trade Union Bill 2015, which will be highly controversial, including the biggest changes to industrial action law since the 1980s....
This week’s other big news on the employment front has been the Government’s launch of a consultation on legislation on gender pay gap reporting. This will close on 6 September 2015....
In relation to sickness and holiday leave, an issue which sometimes arises is whether an employee on sick leave has to demonstrate that he was unable by reason of illness to take holiday for it to be carried forward. Another question is whether there is an unlimited right to carry forward....
This week’s huge news is the announcement by the Chancellor of a new “National Living Wage” which will effectively replace the National Minimum Wage for workers over the age of 25....
If you have been one of the many commuters stuck this week because of the rail and tube strikes, you may be heartened to learn that in a recent case, the Court of Appeal took a robust approach on the issue of how much pay an employer can withhold from a salaried worker....
The recent case of Medicure v Minister for the Cabinet Office was unusual in two key respects. First, it involved a challenge to a procurement process which was brought some seventeen months after the framework agreement had been concluded. Further, the claimant company bringing the challenge had in fact been successful in obtaining a place on the framework....
The balance between private landowners and motorists in the parking arena has shifted in recent years. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (the 2002 Act) brought in by the Coalition government outlawed private clamping but permitted landowners to obtain the details of the registered keepers of vehicles from the DVLA. ...
In assessing whether unfair prejudice has occurred, the courts will look at the facts objectively and, as a starting point, will examine the basis upon which the ‘aggrieved’ shareholder agreed to become a member of the company, i.e. looking at the articles of association and any formal agreements between the shareholders....
I attended an event last month hosted by the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), in which industry leaders (and me!) gathered to discuss a couple of pertinent questions for the construction industry:...
So, with the summer holiday season upon us, where are we now exactly on the issue of the calculation of holiday pay? Can employers move forward in implementing changes to how holiday pay is calculated in the knowledge that there is sufficient legal certainty on the issue?...
The EAT has upheld a decision of the Central Arbitration Committee that for the purposes of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 (The ICE Regulations) an undertaking has to be a legal entity....
The government has confirmed that a consultation will be launched in the coming weeks, with a view to making regulations under section 78 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) to implement gender pay gap reporting....
The UK is one of the world’s biggest internet shoppers with almost £1 in every £8 now being spent online. This year we are expected to outspend the Americans by disposing of nearly £1,200 per person on the web....
Back in February of this year, we reported on the highly controversial issue of whether there is an internationally recognised legal standard guaranteeing a right to strike....
The issue of what is meant by “establishment” for the purpose of collective redundancy consultation having been dealt with recently by the European Court of Justice, the next vexed issue on collective consultation is at what point in the employer’s decision making processes does the obligation to consult arise?...
Immigration issues have been in the news again this week following comments from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) that up to 3,365 nurses currently working in the UK may be forced to leave after upcoming changes are made to the immigration rules....
Agency arrangements often arise informally, and we are sometimes consulted by agents and principals who are not sure whether they fall within the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (the Regulations) or not. ...
A Northern Ireland appeal has been allowed on the decision in Patterson v Castlereagh NIIT/1793/13 after the employer’s legal representatives conceded that there is “nothing in principle” to prevent voluntary overtime being included in holiday pay....