Tax Saving Advice Compulsory
A firm of accountants which failed to point out tax saving opportunities to a client when he sold his company was found to be negligent by the High Court recently. The accountants had failed to bring to the attention of…
Settlement Agreements – What Has Changed?
Following changes made by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, as of 29 July 2013 compromise agreements have been renamed ‘settlement agreements’ and new provisions (Section 111A) have been inserted into the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) making settlement…
Allegations Repeated does not make them True
Local authorities are not always as thorough as they should be when obtaining and evaluating information on which their decisions on child welfare are based, as a recent case shows. It involved a couple who went to court after their…
Pensions – Automatic Enrolment Rules changes
Following a consultation exercise, the Government has announced changes to the automatic enrolment rules aimed at making it easier for employers to enrol their workers into a pension scheme. Auto-enrolment is being introduced in gradual stages, with the date an…
Age Discrimination Can Be Objectively Justified
In a ruling which underlines that ageism, unlike other forms of discrimination, can be objectively justified, a civil service worker who received a much smaller payment on taking voluntary redundancy than she would have done had she been 10 years…
Court Takes Dishonest Director to Task
In a stern reminder of the strict duties of good faith and fidelity owed by directors to the companies they work for, a businessman who leached business opportunities and key staff from his employers has been taken to task by…
Fund Manager Held to ‘Garden Leave’ Covenant
A veteran fund manager who brought down the wrath of his former employer when he resigned and moved to a competitor has been issued with an injunction holding him to a ‘garden leave’ covenant in his contract. The High Court…
Architect Liable for Contractor’s Errors
A couple who engaged a contractor to carry out work on their house have succeeded in their claim against the architect in respect of the cost of putting right defects in the contractor’s work. The couple bought a five-storey house…
Machine Operator Wins £6,000 for Hearing Loss
A man who worked as a machine operator for many years has won compensation after suffering damage to his hearing. Oswald Grant, from Pudsey in West Yorkshire, began working at Yorkshire Imperial Metals (YIM) in 1963. He initially worked as…
Covert Recordings – Admissible as Evidence?
In Vaughan v London Borough of Lewisham and Others, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) reaffirmed that whilst the practice of making secret recordings may be regarded as ‘very distasteful’ and a breach of mutual trust and confidence, there are circumstances…