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facilitation payments, business expenditure (hospitality and gifts) and self-reporting which took immediate effect and superseded previous statements of policy or practice: Facilitation payments.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…
The level of protection afforded to those who carry out work for someone else is not provided on a uniform basis. Some employment rights are conferred only on employees, whereas other rights are available to a wider category of workers,…
Currently, bringing an employment tribunal (ET) claim is free of charge. However, the cost of running the ET service is £84 million per annum. Earlier this year, as part of the Government’s Employment Law Review programme, the Ministry of Justice…
A service provision change under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) takes place when, immediately before the transfer, there is an ‘organised grouping of employees’ situated in Great Britain which has as its principal purpose the…
When grandparents were wrongly accused during care proceedings of colluding in the sexual abuse of their grandchildren, they denied the claims and were subsequently exonerated by the judge after an investigation that lasted more than five weeks. As the grandparents…
