Victoria Bischoff’s article in the Daily Mail, ‘When William Herd died he left £300,000 but his only son Stuart never saw a penny: Why you must write a will’, sums up what many solicitors tell a client dragging their ...
Legal Updates
For some time, firstly under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and now under the Equality Act 2010, workers in the UK suffering from a disability have been protected from discrimination. The UK was required to introduce such ...
On 30 June 2014 the Children and Families Act 2014 will bring into force the right to request flexible working for all employees who have 26 weeks’ service. Previously the right to request flexible working could be made in order to ...
ACAS has this week published guidance for employers on how to handle TUPE transfers. Although it runs to 74 pages, it is helpful as a starting point with some useful examples. If you are not familiar with TUPE it refers to the Transfer ...
From 22 April 2014, residence and contact orders are being abolished and instead a single order is being introduced: a Child Arrangement Order. Child Arrangement Orders will regulate when and who a child is to spend time with. The ...
We always think that it will happen to someone else, but the truth is that we never know what is round the corner. Accidents can happen, or you or a loved one may suddenly be faced with battling a serious illness, and as the recent ...
Happy Easter from MacDonald Oates! This month not only brings with it some much needed Spring-like weather (and probably too much chocolate!) but also increases to rates such as Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). We have updated our quick ...
If you are feeling harassed or bullied at work it can have a significant impact on your well being, your family and friends and, in the worst cases, your long term health. For some, they simply resign putting it down to experience. For ...
These are not topics that you would normally see in same sentence. However, changes to employment law which came into force on 1st October affect both Directors and those on the national minimum wage. The national minimum wage (NMW) ...
Renting properties carries a number of significant legislative requirements that landlords must make every effort to adhere to or risk potentially significant issues should they wish to recover possession of their property. They may ...
Settlement Agreements and Pre-termination negotiations Some employers may be familiar with Compromise Agreements, whereby the employee signs an Agreement in return for a sum of money and agrees not to make any further claims against ...
Following a number of scandals in the 1980’s and 1990’s such as the Maxwell scandal and the Piper Alpha explosion, it was decided that protection was needed for those workers who previously were too scared to ‘blow the whistle’ on the ...
The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) on 25 June 2013 means agricultural workers will be treated the same as other workers. The Agricultural Wages Board currently sets minimum wages and other terms for agricultural ...
The Disclosure and Barring Service (which replaced the Criminal Records Bureau and Independent Safeguarding Authority at the end of 2012) has launched its new Update Service available from 17th June 2013. Normally employers are ...
We take a look at the recent case of Woodhouse v West North West Homes Leeds. Mr Woodhouse is black and over a number of years he lodged ten grievances and brought seven employment tribunal claims against his employer. Many of these ...
England and Wales currently have two systems of how land is held: registered land and unregistered land. If your land is registered, the title to your land is held electronically at the Land Registry. If your land is unregistered, the ...
On 8 March 2013 the amount of Parental Leave increased from 13 weeks to 18 weeks. The Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/3312) give employees the right to unpaid Parental Leave. It is aimed at allowing employees ...
It is common practice for employers to include restrictive covenants in employment contracts. However, restrictive covenants can amount to an unlawful restraint of trade and will therefore be unenforceable. These clauses will only be ...
The High Court holds that a Christian employee who expressed his views about gay marriage on Facebook had not committed misconduct by doing so and that in demoting him, his employer had acted in breach of contract. On Mr Smith’s ...
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has held that the UK does not currently provide adequate protection from dismissal on the grounds of political party membership. Mr Redfearn was employed by Serco as a driver. He provided ...
The Employment Appeal (EAT) Tribunal holds that a lap dancer was an employee and therefore entitled to bring a claim of unfair dismissal. Ms Quashie worked for the Stringfellows as a lap dancer from June 2007. Ms Quashie signed a form ...
To succeed with a disability discrimination claim, the claimant must show they are disabled. This is often contested by respondents as the definition of disability is not straight forward, unless it’s a deemed disability under the ...