Employees should by now be aware of the dangers of venting their frustrations with employers on Facebook. Recent cases have demonstrated that derogatory comments can lead to fair dismissals even where the comments were made years ago or where a deliberate search was undertaken by the employer to find further comments....
The government has opened a consultation on whether it should devolve Sunday trading rules to local areas, such as cities run by elected mayors and/or local authorities. This would give them greater control of their local economy and could mean significant disparities in Sunday trading rules affecting employees across different parts of the country....
Six Lithuanians are suing Kent-based gangmaster operation DJ Houghton Catching Services in the High Court, for whom it is alleged that they were trafficked from Lithuania to work, in the first ever case of a UK firm being taken to court for modern slavery-related claims. ...
You may well see references to a party “warranting” something, or “indemnifying” another party in relation to something or perhaps not making a “representation” about something in commercial agreements, such as for the sale of goods and services, businesses or shares....
Following consultation, the government has decided not to limit the new reporting requirements of the Modern Slavery Act affecting supply chains just to very big companies. Speaking on his tour of south east Asia, prime minister David Cameron has now confirmed: “From October we will also require all businesses with a £36 million turnover or above to disclose what they are doing to ensure their business and supply chains are slavery free. He went on to say...
The EAT has upheld a tribunal's decision that the scope of regulation 13, Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is limited to providing agency workers with a right to be informed of vacancies within the end user company. It rejected the claim that agency workers were entitled to be afforded equal status with comparable permanent employees in being considered for a vacancy....
The government has issued a consultation document on proposals to introduce a cap of £95,000 on the total value of exit payments made to public sector employees. Any waiver of the cap would require consent from the relevant Minister, or from the full council in the case of local government exit payments. The consultation closes on 27 August 2015....
The whistleblowing charity, Public Concern at Work, has published this week some YouGov survey results showing that, surprisingly, only 48 per cent of workers in a representative sample said their workplace had a whistleblowing policy. This was despite the fact that 81 percent of workers surveyed said they would raise a concern about possible corruption, danger or serious malpractice at work. In the last two years, 11 per cent of workers said they had such concerns. Of those, 59 percent had raised them with their employer....
This week has seen the welcome appointment of Monica Atwal, former Deputy Managing Partner and key Partner in the Employment and Immigration team, as Clarkslegal’s new Managing Partner for the firm....
What is click wrapping?...
A consultation is underway (closing on 16 October 2015) on simplifying the tax treatment of termination payments. The proposals are a significant move away from the current regime....
In late 2014 two TCC decisions (Harding v Paice and ISG v Seevic) considered the effect of failures to serve payment and pay less notices in response to applications for payment....
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched the #worksforme campaign, which aims to support employees and employers with pregnancy and maternity issues in the workplace....
A tribunal has ruled that an NHS chief unfairly dismissed an employee after she refused his advances. The claimant managed the HR department at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and had a strong working relationship with the defendant, regularly meeting up with him to discuss work over lunch....
Tier 2 visas are the main route for skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to come to work in the UK....
Figures suggest that fly-tipping – the illegal deposit of waste – is on the up after years of decline, with a 20% increase in fly-tipping since 2012/13. A costly concern for landowners, it is estimated that fly-tipping on private land costs of as much between £50m and £150 million to clear up each year. This note, gives a brief overview of some of the issues to aware of ....
We have recently been asked whether a landlord is able to operate historic rent reviews. The lease in question was a lease granted in 1999 for a term of 15 years, expiring at the end of December 2013 and within the protection of the renewal provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. The tenant is still in occupation, holding over under the 1954 Act....
Ikea is leading the way in the campaign for a National Living Wage, becoming the first large national retailer to announce plans to comply with the new rates....
The Justice Committee, consisting of 11 cross party MPs is conducting an inquiry into the impact of tribunal fees introduced for claims submitted on or after 29 July 2013....
Last month we blogged about news that the cap on the number of Tier 2 visas for skilled migrant workers was reached for the first time....