Two recent High Court decisions underline the importance for businesses of reviewing the restrictive covenants in an employee's contract when they are promoted and making sure the employee signs and returns the new contract. In the first case, the employee's…
A charity has been fined £70,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for a serious breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. A social worker employed by the Norwood charity left sensitive documents concerning four young children outside the home…
The OFT recently conducted a pre-Christmas review of 156 retailer websites, and found that many of them may not be complying fully with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. Key failures…
The Court of Appeal has rejected a claim for damages by a woman climber who was injured when a stunt being filmed for a television production went wrong. The woman was on a climbing expedition in Ecuador during which she…
With times being tough, complying with environmental law relating to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme may be near the bottom of the ‘to do’ list for many businesses, but the consequences of non-compliance can be expensive indeed…
A case in the Scottish Court of Session highlights the importance for directors of not having too close a personal involvement in a company's activities. The court ruled that S (the sole director and shareholder of a company trading as…
On 9 October 2012, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) issued revised statements of policy on facilitation payments, business expenditure (hospitality and gifts) and self-reporting which took immediate effect and superseded previous statements of policy or practice: Facilitation payments. Facilitation payments…
In an important test case, the Court of Appeal has been asked to decide whether the test of ‘proportionality’ laid down by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) should be applied to unfair dismissal cases (Turner v East Midlands…
An employment contract which was retained and not signed by the relevant worker remains valid for the purposes of enforcing restrictive covenants contained within it, a High Court judge has ruled. Benefits received by the worker under the terms of…
The Court of Appeal has urged employment tribunals to ensure that an exception to National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation, designed to benefit both employers and workers, is not exploited as a device to obtain cheap domestic labour. The court was…
