The Employment Appeal has given its judgment in the case of three appeals - Bear Scotland Ltd and others v Fulton and others [2014], and Hertel (UK) Ltd v Woods and others [2014] and Amec Group Ltd v Law and others [2014]. The common issue in each of these cases was the calculation of holiday pay. The cases centered round the interpretation of Article 7 of the Working Time Directive. This Article reads as follows:...
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It is not always possible or desirable for an agreement for lease to be unconditional. Often, there is a need for an agreement for lease where the ultimate grant of the lease is conditional upon certain conditions being satisfied. This can lead to disputes, where it becomes in the interest of either party to try to wriggle out of its obligation to take the lease....
Public Houses have been closing at an increasing level in recent years. In August this year the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) reported that pubs were closing at a rate of 31 a week with fewer than 55,000 British pubs in operation....
Clarkslegal`s international legal alliance, TAGLaw, recently held its 31st international conference from October 20th through 22nd in Hong Kong, attended by our Managing Partner, David Rintoul. Also in attendance at the conference were members of TAGLaw`s affiliate alliances, TIAG® (The International Accounting Group) and TAG-SP™. All three alliances are collectively known as the TAG Alliances™....
Today the Employment Appeal Tribunal released its judgment in the three conjoined holiday pay cases. The Bear Scotland case (road construction and maintenance in Scotland) related to non payment of overtime and other payments associated with work in calculating holiday pay. The Hertel and Amec cases (construction) related to non payment of overtime an calculation of payment in lieu of notice on...
The Court of Appeal has upheld the finding that a beauty consultant was not in "employment" under section 83 of the Equality Act 2010 as she did not have a contract of employment or a "contract personally to do work". She provided her services through a limited company to a business which supplied staff to a third party (a cosmetics company) to work in an airport duty-free outlet. The Equality...
An agency worker, who worked for the Ministry of Defence for 8years, has failed in his attempt to claim that his employer had failed to comply with the obligation under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 whichprovides, "An agency worker has during an assignment the right to beinformed by the hirer of any relevant vacant posts with the hirer, to give thatagency worker the same opportunity as a com...
As many of us will experience every day the UK`s train stations are getting busier. With more people using the often creaking infrastructure every year the result is that there is a consistent annual increase in footfall at all of the major train stations in the UK. According to Network Rail more than a staggering one billion people, on average, pass through one of their 19 managed stations every year....
The EAT has found that there was no disability discrimination based on a failure to make reasonable adjustments and that it was fair to dismiss a disabled employee who had received a final written warning for repeated absences and where the absence was unlikely to improve. In General Dynamics Information Technology Ltd v Carranza UKEAT/0107/14, the employee had received a final written warning fo...
The parties to any contract can deal with the effects of breach of contract claim in a number of ways. For example, the contract may leave the issue of the determination of damages for breach of contract to the court. Alternatively, parties may choose to clarify, restrict or fix losses. They are common in construction and engineering contracts to cover the issue of delays. This avoids the need for complicated and lengthy court proceedings and allows the damages to be paid and contact to continue. Payment may be by deduction from the contract sum....
The Information Commissioner`s Office (ICO) has published an updated code of practice for CCTV and other types of surveillance cameras. It provides best practice advice, for those involved in operating CCTV and surveillance cameras that view or record individuals` information, on how to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. The code now provides specific guidance on particularly intrusive te...
The case of Sugar Hut Group v AJ Insurance put an interesting slant on the question of how loss of profits should be calculated. A nightclub in Essex was damaged by a serious fire. Its owner (Sugar Hut) failed in its claim under its insurance policy because its insurance brokers (AJ Insurance) had negligently failed...
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced plans to equalise parental leave and pay arrangements for members of the civil service. Female civil servants can currently take maternity leave at full pay, but partners would not receive full pay if they choose to take time off as shared parental leave with their partner. From April 2015, civil servants taking shared parental leave will be enti...
On 16 October 2014, Bruce Carr QC`s report setting out the findings of his Independent Review into the Law Governing Industrial Disputes was published. The review was launched following allegations of intimidation of managers by union representatives during the Grangemouth oil refinery dispute. The scope of the review was scaled back in April 2014 due to concerns on the part of Bruce Carr that it...
The EAT has provided some guidance on making "Polkey" deductions. This is the deduction in compensation a tribunal will make in an unfair dismissal claim if it finds that the employee would have been dismissed in any event even if a fair procedure been followed. In Contract Bottling Ltd v Cave and another UKEAT/0100/14, the EAT overturned an employment tribunal`s assessment of a 20% Polkey deduc...
Acas has published Shared parental leave: a good practice guide for employers and employees....
The government has published new regulations to extend parental leave to parents of children aged between five and 18. This is due to come into force on 5 April 2015. At present, with the exception of parents of disabled children, only parents of children aged five and under can take such leave, which is currently a maximum of 18 weeks that is limited to four weeks per year....
The recent case of Martin Retail Group Limited v Crawley Borough Council has indicated how the requirements of competition law may be applied by courts to retail leases which include provisions that restrict the use of a property....
Employers are increasingly asking for "BIM" to be included in the services provided by consultants and contractors, but very few of them know what they are asking for and very few consultants and contractors can actually provide it! The problem arises out of defining exactly what "BIM" is for the purposes of the project in question....