This month a Scottish Council whose former employees` pension records were found in a paper recycle bank in a supermarket car park were fined £250,000 for the data breach. More than 600 files were found at the recycle bins, containing confidential information and, in a significant number of cases, salary and bank account details....
The Government has announced a range of legislative measures aimed at boosting UK business growth. According to BIS, from April 2013 the Government intends to introduce new rules that will exempt hundreds of thousands of businesses from regular health & safety inspections. Only businesses operating in higher risk areas will face these inspections, such as those in construction and those who hav...
1 April 2013 is an important date for lawyers. It is when the new rules on recovery of legal costs in legal proceedings are planned to come into force....
Since May 2011 the Information Commissioner`s Office (the "ICO") has had the power to issue Civil Monetary Penalties ("CMPs") of up to £500,000 for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act....
A survey, Facing the future: CBI/Harvey Nash employment trends survey 2012, carried out by the CBI and Harvey Nash, examines the impact of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 on businesses....
A recent case highlights the pitfalls of engaging casual staff without a written contract. Determining the employment status of causal workers is often difficult as the term suggests a relationship that is informal between the parties, with limited obligation on both sides. However casual workers will in some instances be considered to be providing their services under contracts of employment, despite working on an ad hoc basis and as such have more rights as employees. This would include the right to not be unfairly dismissed....
Since 1 January 2011, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) have been able to name and shame by press release employers who fail to adhere to National Minimum Wage (NMW) law. Mrs Rita Patel has been named as the latest offender. Trading as Treena Professional Hair & Beauty, Mrs Patel neglected to pay £3,361.22 in arrears of the NMW to a former worker, following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which has resulted in HMRC enforcing the debt through the court....
Clarkslegal has acted in helping to overturn a decision by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to refuse a Tier 2 licence under the Points Based System (PBS) to an educational establishment. The prospective sponsor liaised with the UKBA over several months to establish whether it could be granted a Tier 2 licence. Senior personnel at the UKBA unambiguously confirmed...
Not according to a recent survey. The survey (organised by PlusHR and undertaken by market research organisation, Redshift Research) has indicated that 75% of HR professionals are not included when business strategy is formulated. The research was conducted across 125 HR professionals, business owners, directors and line managers, from companies ranging in size from 10 to 1000+. The aim of th...
According to a survey of 1,000 working women conducted by Ernst & Young, the four main barriers to progression for women are: Being too young or too old, with being too youngapparently the biggest barrier Lack of experience or qualifications Motherhood Lack of a female role model. How can women overcome these barriers? Those surveyed identified the following main ways in whic...
London Metropolitan University has had its sponsorship licence revoked by the UK Border Agency, meaning it is now unable to sponsor and teach new and existing international students from outside the EU. The UKBA has apparently said it had "failed to address serious and systemic failings" and the latest audit revealed problems with 61% of files. The UKBA suspended the university`s Highly Trusted S...
Research has been conducted into the after-thoughts of organisations that changed their working practices to try and alleviate the detrimental impact on their businesses and workforces during the Olympics. The reports are positive and a large proportion of organisations that brought in flexible working schemes during the Olympics (e.g. working from home or altering working hours) will continue t...
On 21st July 2012, the UK Border Agency identified a number of students working illegally in a Tesco warehouse. The students now face being removed from the UK. Overseas nationals who come to the UK on a student visa are permitted to work for up to 20 hours a week during term time. The number of hours the students are allowed to work depends on the level of course which the student has come to u...
ACAS, in association with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has recently published a Good Practice Guide on Managing Redundancy for Pregnant Employees or those on Maternity Leave. This short handbook provides a useful checklist to ensure that employers manage the process fairly. It describes the law on this area, and usefully applies it directly to scenario`s that may arise in the workp...
It has recently been reported that Rolls Royce spent £300,000 defending claims of sex discrimination from a former employee who was suing the company for £135,000. Rolls Royce was successful in its defence with the claims being emphatically dismissed by the employment tribunal judge. Despite this, Rolls Royce only managed to recover around 3% of its costs from the claimant, the judge only being...
In the case of Wrexham Golf Co Ltd v Ingham the Employment Appeal Tribunal commented on the reasonableness of an employer making an employee redundant from a ‘pool of one`....
Last year the commission on the bill of rights consulted the public on whether the UK needed a new human rights instrument. At the time it was thought by many that the consultation document lacked the required detail for the public to comment meaningfully. The consultation process closed in November 2011 and the responses were published. It has been surprising to note that the commission is...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has recently considered whether an employer committed a fundamental breach of contract when it mistakenly interpreted the meaning of a contractual document. This was the issue in Roberts -v- The Governing Body of Whitecross School. The facts Mr Roberts had worked for Whitecross School for a number of years and went on sick leave due to work-related stress and...
A perennial problem faced by the Courts is the temptation by claimants to overstate the value of their claims. The problem is particularly acute in personal injury claims with insurers often taking the brunt of the increased compensation awards which then filter down to consumers through higher insurance premiums. However, the problem is not confined to personal injury cases. Unscrupulous claimants often find ways of exaggerating losses in commercial cases....
In the latest decision by the English courts concerning the social networking and micro blogging website Twitter, Paul Chambers, a former trainee accountant, has been acquitted of sending a "menacing message". As a result of a message Chambers posted on Twitter he was arrested at his workplace, lost his job, and for more than two years endured the threat of criminal sanctions and terrorist association hanging over him....