Secondary Victim’ Claim Fails
When a woman who was injured in an accident at work and who seemed to be making a good recovery collapsed and died three weeks later, as a result of a deep-vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism which were related…
New Minimum Wage Rates in 2013
The Government has announced the rates of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) that will apply for 2013/2014. The following changes will come into effect on 1 October 2013: The adult NMW rate will increase from £6.19 to £6.31 per hour;…
Age Discrimination: Retirement at 65
An employment tribunal has decided that a law firm's mandatory retirement age of 65 for partners was a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aims of workforce planning and staff retention. Therefore, the retirement age was objectively justified and did…
Grass-Free Beach is Village Green, Rules Court
The term ‘village green’ may conjure up to most people an image of a picturesque piece of open grass. However, the Court of Appeal has ruled in an important test case that a beach can be regarded as a village…
Judge Ends Litigation War
When a divorced wealthy couple sought to wage ‘litigation war’ against one another, running up legal bills of more than £2.7 million in the process, the family judge was unsympathetic. Accusing the pair of trying to engage in ‘forensic points-scoring’…
Court Steps In to Remedy Land Registry Blunder
A Land Registry error which resulted in two individuals being concurrently registered as freehold owners of the same plot of land has been put right by the Court of Appeal in a test case which raised an important point of…
Court Rejects Evidence Delivered Too Late
A recent case illustrates the importance of making sure that all the evidence which it is intended to rely on in legal proceedings is put before the court and made available to the other side in good time for them…
Employee Must Pay £60,000 Cost of ‘Misconceived’ Proceedings
In a stark reminder that launching employment tribunal proceedings can have serious financial consequences, a woman who pursued misconceived allegations against her employers and others during a costly tribunal hearing which lasted 20 days has been ordered to contribute an…
Teacher Triumphs In Criminal Record Disclosure Dispute
In a case which highlighted the difficult balance to be struck between child protection and the rights of the individual, a police force has been criticised by the High Court for its 'blinkered' treatment of a teacher who was acquitted…
Employment Rights – Ministers of Religion
The Supreme Court has ruled that a Methodist Minister was not an employee of the Church and so cannot pursue her claim for unfair dismissal (President of the Methodist Conference v Preston). Hayley Preston became an ordained Minister of the…