Flooding Risks
What is the issue? Flooding is a growing risk. Aside from physical damage caused by floods, if a property is at risk of flooding it may be difficult to: obtain a mortgage obtain suitable insurance cover, or sell the property. This…
Judge Fines Company ‘Every Penny It Has’
Following the death of an 11-year-old child who was hit by a speedboat whilst attending a friend’s birthday party that took place at a lake, the company that operated the site pleaded guilty to charges brought under the Corporate Manslaughter…
Pool of One Redundancy Not Unfair
A senior charity employee, whose post was deleted after her boss decided that there were too many managers and not enough workers actually delivering services, has failed to convince the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) that she was unfairly dismissed. The…
School Caught in Cleft Stick Must Pay
In a case which threw into stark relief the ‘cleft stick’ in which employers providing services to children and vulnerable adults often find themselves, a school caretaker who was sacked after facing unsubstantiated allegations of historic child abuse has won…
Disgruntled Ex-Employee Caused IT Chaos
In a vivid warning to the business community that embittered ex-staff members can sometimes return with a vengeance, a disgruntled computer expert who used his technical skills to take retribution on his former employers after he was made redundant has…
Tribunal Delivers Blow to Agency Workers
In a signpost decision, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has rejected novel arguments that agency workers who complete a 12-week qualification period become automatically entitled to the same rights as directly employed personnel who work alongside them. A group of…
Employee Accommodation a Business Asset
A Chinese restaurant which provided a residential property for use as accommodation for employees as part of their contracts of employment has persuaded the First-tier Tribunal that the house was a business asset for the purposes of ‘taper relief’ for…
Property Use Restriction is Reasonable
It is normal for any building divided into flats to have rules relating to the use to which the flats can be put as well as other internal regulations. The potential scope of such regulations was tested in a recent…
Ignoring Duty to Neighbours Costs Homeowner
Homeowners have a responsibility to ensure that they do not damage their neighbours’ properties and this includes a legal duty to keep their garden trees and shrubs under control. When a North London woman ignored her responsibilities in this regard,…
Crane Catastrophe Leaves Company with Bill
A building company is facing up to a damages bill of almost £600,000 after a simple error by one of its employees in failing to extend the hydraulic feet of a mobile crane resulted in an industrial accident that caused…