Three members of staff from MacDonald Oates; Robert Sawers, Daniel Drummond and Linda Wilson, successfully completed the Great South Run of 10 miles on Sunday in support of our charity of the year, the Sussex Snowdrop Trust. Linda ...
Couples going through a separation often fear the worst; lengthy court proceedings that result in nothing but upset and extortionate legal costs. However, in reality very few of our clients go down this route. Most cases we deal with ...
The on-going saga of Mr Lock’s case against British Gas has recently been to the Court of Appeal. You will recall we have looked at this case previously in our news updates. In brief, Mr Lock was engaged on a basic salary plus ...
ACAS have published a new guide to help employers whose employees who may have life threatening or long term illnesses. It is hoped this guidance will be useful to employers bearing in mind the number of employees who suffer from ...
We are very pleased to announce that on 1 October 2016 MacDonald Oates LLP acquired the firm of Brown-Hovelt Veale Nelson, where Roger Brown-Hovelt is the remaining Partner and sole practitioner. He has specialised in Wills, Trusts, ...
The following hourly rates of National Minimum Wage (NMW) will apply from 1 October 2016: The rate for workers aged 21 to 24 will be £6.95. The development rate (workers aged 18 to 20) will be £5.55. The young workers rate ...
Congratulations to Samantha Tayler, the latest member of the Wills, Probate and Trusts team. We are delighted to announce that Samantha Tayler has qualified as a solicitor, having successfully completed her two year training contract ...
This is an age old question and, from an employment lawyer’s view, it is one of the first questions to be asked with any commercial transaction: is it a TUPE transfer or not? But for those clients new to TUPE, their first question is ...
It appears we are being bombarded with reports and statistics about how women and new mothers are being treated in workplace. Previously it was the TUC report into the increase in sexual harassment in the workplace, then we heard ...
An investigation into potential disciplinary matters is important for various reasons. For example, any dismissal based on a poor investigation would be likely to be found unfair as any decision by a dismissing officer needs to be ...
Following the TUC survey of 1500 women, which found that more than half of women say they have been sexually harassed at work, we take a look at a recent case where a woman was awarded an injury to feelings award because of sexual ...
Petersfield witnessed the 10th Petersfield Ups and Downs (PUADS) bike ride on Sunday, despite the wet weather! Riders of all ages bravely turned out to complete the various courses, whether it was 50 miles or the 5 mile family bike ...
There have been many cases involving employer’s dress codes and whether they amount to religious discrimination. One significant case was that of Eweida v British Airways plc [2010] where BA did not allow its staff to wear visible ...
As a growing firm, we are looking for people to join us in different departments. We feel it is key for us to attract the right calibre of staff so we are able to provide our clients with the high standards of service they deserve. We ...
Our charity of the year is the Sussex Snowdrop Trust, which is a local charity which provides care at home for children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses and support for their families. Kate Shires, in our Wills, Probate and ...
Last Friday we were lucky enough to have our Firm outing at one of Goodwood’s Three Friday Nights. It was organised by our Culture Team, which organises our social events and encourages the positive culture at the Firm. The evening ...
It is almost two years since the law was changed so all employees who have 26 weeks service have the right to request flexible working. There is a duty on employers to consider requests in a reasonable manner, supplemented by a ...
Although employers are often faced with employees who are genuinely unable to attend work due to illness, there will be times when an employer suspects that the employee is abusing the sick leave provisions, and possibly sick pay ...
At MacDonald Oates we are passionate about our high standards of client service and therefore it is incredibly rewarding when we receive such positive feedback as reflected in our testimonials. We collect all the feedback we receive ...
Recent cases of property fraud have highlighted the importance of property owners ensuring that their address for service recorded at the Land Registry is up to date, as this is the address the Land Registry will rely upon if they need ...
We are very pleased to announce the further growth of our Wills, Probate and Trusts team with the arrival of Kate Shires. Kate has joined us from a long established local firm where she was a Partner for a number of years. Kate ...
We are pleased to report that Tim Melville-Walker, the head of our family department, has become one of the first lawyers in the country to qualify as an arbitrator for children matters. Tim has been a family law arbitrator for some ...