Latest News

• When is a Controlling Shareholder an Employee?

• :   Many employment law rights are only available to those who are employees. For someone to have employee status, they must work under a contract of employment. Protection from unfair dismissal, under the Employment Rights Act 1996, is only afforded to someone...
  

• Provision of Financial Assistance for Purchase of Shares

• :   The provision of assistance by a company for the purchase of its shares was prohibited until the 1981 Companies Act came into force, when a ‘whitewash’ procedure was introduced which allowed private companies to give financial assistance for...
  

• New Rules for Company Names

• :   New rules relating to the registration of company names came into force  today which will allow companies to object more easily to the registration of a company name which could be confused with theirs. See the new rules  at the UK...
  

• New Minimum Wage Rates - A Reminder

• :   Employers are reminded that from today the adult National Minimum Wage   will rise from £5.52 to £5.73 an hour. The minimum rate for 18- to 21-year-olds will increase from £4.60 to £4.77 an hour and for 16- to 17-year-olds the...
  

• Successor Not Comparator

• :   One of the commonly disputed issues in equal pay claims is who is an appropriate comparator for the purposes of deciding if an employer’s pay policy has been applied in a discriminatory fashion. Recently, a claimant sought to use...
  

• Risk Assessments and Routine Activities

• :   Two recent cases involving breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 have highlighted the need for those with health and safety responsibilities to be vigilant in ensuring that day-to-day tasks are carried out in a way that does not put workers...
  

• Discrimination - ECJ Rules

• :   In a decision that will have far reaching implications, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled (Coleman v Attridge Law) that a woman with a disabled child is entitled to protection from discrimination at work on the grounds of her child’s...
  

• Advocate General Supports Retirement at 65

• :   We have previously reported that Heyday, an organisation for people in or nearing retirement, has challenged the Government over the inclusion in the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 of a mandatory retirement age of 65 or over, on the grounds...
  

• IR35 update

• :  IR35 Dragonfly decision
  

• Guidance on Letters of Intent

• :   Letters of intent are widely used in the building trade, because it is normal for both developer and contractor to wish to make progress on a building project without having to wait until the formal contractual arrangements have been fully agreed. However,...