I cannot recommend Brian highly enough. He is a pragmatic realist who cuts through the legal minefield and provides good, relevant, and researched advice.

Richard Simmons

Brian was able to offer me prompt, objective and easy-to-understand business legal advice just when I needed it...

Wayne 'Web-Wise' Smallman

One of the sharpest, legal minds I've come across. If you're in business. You need Brian on YOUR side. Period.

Richard Simmons

Brian is a reputable guy. He responded quickly and efficiently to our request and advised us as to the most appropriate course of action.

Nick Haine, Aitch Em.

Brian is always very thorough and professional. Happy to recommend him.

Roger Price, Owner, AIMS Accountants

Brian has a fine business legal mind. You will find Brian approachable and open and an excellent resource for your business legal challenges.

Rod Sloane

I have contracted work on behalf of Brian. Because of his thorough preparation and proffesional and business like apporach we were able to produce the work quickly and with the minimum of hassle.

Bruce Bradley

As I live in Germany, Brian's ability to communicate via Skype was very handy. He provided effective and precise legal advice adapted to resolving my particular business-related situation. Top qualities: Personable, Expert, High Integrity.

David Johnson

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Employment and HR

Abuse of process: robust case management guidance from Court of Appeal
In Stuart v Linde and others [2008] EWCA Civ 2 , the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal against a decision striking out a claim on the ground that it was an abuse of process. The issue in the case was whether it was an abuse of process to bring a second...
Age Discrimination - Life After the Abolition of the Default Retirement Age
As a result of recent changes in the law, the last date on which an employer could lawfully notify an employee of a retirement dismissal using the statutory Default Retirement Age (DRA) provisions laid down by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 ...
Age Discrimination - Qualifications and Pay Structure
It is indirect discrimination for an employer to apply a provision, criterion or practice that is, on the face of it, age neutral but which puts people in a particular age group at a disadvantage, unless it can be shown to be a proportionate means of...
Agency workers and employment status.
Agency workers and employment status.
Bloomberg mum wins discrimination settlement
City mum sues Bloomberg for sexual discrimination As reported by The Telegraph “mum’s the word” for Janine Funsch who won an out of court settlement against Bloomberg, the financial information service. A “gagging order”...
Can We Stop Them ?
Restrictive covenants (clauses which are normally found in contracts of employment and partnership agreements, which restrict the right of a person to compete with his or her firm) have always been a difficult area of law. The courts are able to strike out...
Changing terms and conditions
Changing terms and conditions of employment-unilateral change by council employer of benefits found to be breach of contract. In Nicholas Hugh Parry Weatherill and others v Birmingham City Council council employees sued successfully for breach of employment...
Collective Redundancy Consultation
Employers should be aware of the potentially serious financial consequences of failing to consult when making collective redundancies. If an employer is proposing to make redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or...
Collective Redundancy Consultation - Obligation to Consult in Special Circumstances
A recent case before the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) dealt with a situation that is quite common in the construction industry, whereby problems encountered on site require adjustments to the working and staffing arrangements in order to adapt to the...
Companies not ready for age discrimination laws
The Lawyer magazine has reported that over 40% of employers are unprepared for the the new age discrimination training that comes into effect 1 October. HR Managers have not obtained training as they should thereby placing their employers at risk. The...
Compromise Agreements
As a general rule, ‘out of court settlements’ of employment disputes are not legally binding in that they cannot exclude an employee's right to take the matter concerned to an Employment Tribunal (ET). A formal compromise agreement is one of the...
Compromise Agreements - Tax Position Clarified
A compromise agreement is an agreement made between an employer and an employee who is having their contract of employment terminated. It sets out the terms under which the termination will take place and contains a provision that the employee will receive a...
Compromise agreements-conditional payment terms allowed for clawback
Compromise agreements-conditional payment terms allowed for clawback
Confidential information heading out the door
Confidential information loss.
Confidential information heading out the door
Confidential information loss.
Costs Awards in Employment Tribunal Proceedings
Costs orders are the exception, rather than the rule, in Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings. However, where a claimant acts unreasonably in pursuing a claim, the ET can make a costs award in favour of the other party. In Dunedin Canmore Housing...
Damages for Wrongful Dismissal
The Court of Appeal has ruled that an employee who suffered a loss as a result of findings of personal and professional misconduct made against him in disciplinary proceedings that were conducted in breach of his employment contract, which would not...
Damages for breach of restrictive covenant
Restrictive covenant damages for employer when employee breaches contract
Database belongs to sales agent
Database rights beolng to agents
Dealing with Employee Absence
Employee absences can be both costly and disruptive. It is advisable to have systems in place to measure and analyse these costs so that you can identify problem areas. Are there patterns of absence? Does a particular department have a below average record?...
Director not liable for procuring breach of contract
Director not personally liable for company wrong
Disability discrimination and sick leave
disability sick leave
Discrimination in goods and services
Discrimination in providing goods, services and facilities-loophole to be closed. There are many “grey” areas that await clarification at present and it is hoped that the new legislation will close these loopholes. However...
Does the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 apply to paper records?
Data protection for paper records.
Drug Policy - Recognising the Signs and What to Do
Research findings from Medscreen, based on drug testing carried out over the last ten years across a variety of professions, reveal that there has been a 3,000 per cent increase in the number of workers testing positive for cocaine. More than five per cent...
Email insult was unfair so sacking was partly justified
Email insult results in dismissal
Employer vicariously liable in negligence for bullying,harassment and victimisation damages.
Bullying and harassment
Employment Bill 2007
Employment Bill
Equal pay: indirect discrimination for anti-social hours bonus
Equal pay for unsocial hours by WPC's.
Failing to Prevent Bribery - Are You at Risk?
The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. It created a new offence which can be committed by a commercial organisation if it fails to prevent persons associated with it from committing bribery on its behalf. A business can provide a defence by...
False Claims on a CV - What to Do
According to research by the Risk Advisory Group, more than half of CVs submitted by job applicants contain lies or inaccuracies. These range from gaps in employment history to false claims regarding qualifications and failure to mention fraud committed...
Flexible working rights extended
Flexible working rights extended
Get the Christmas Party Right
It’s that time of year again. Love them or hate them, the invitations to office Christmas parties will be arriving soon if they haven’t already. For employers, parties pose a particular threat. Here are some tips on making sure your...
Health and Safety - VDU Use
More and more workers are spending a large part of their day looking at a computer screen. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 specifically deal with the health and safety issues associated with working with VDUs. The Health...
Health and Safety Breaches - Penalties
The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 received Royal Assent on 16 October 2008 and came into force on 1 January 2009. It amends Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and has increased penalties for breaches of health and safety...
High Court rules ex-employees infringed database right by copying electronic files
ex-employees who copied and retained various documents belonging to their ex-employer, such as customer contact details and sales figures
IR35 update
IR35 Dragonfly decision
Inappropriate interview questions
Poor interviewing brings law claims to businesses.
Increase in statutory sick pay and statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay from April 2008
Increase in statutory sick pay and statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay from April 2008
Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations
The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004
Intel negligent in causing depression illness
Intel negligent for causing stress.
Lying in your CV
Lying in your CV brings legal dangers.
Madonna, Malawi and adoption
Madonna and adoption laws
Management order not to wear the veil while teaching is not discriminatory
Making the news of late has been the veil and not only by way of Jack Straw’s comments which were sensationalised by the media. Widely reported was Azmi v Kirklees Metropolitan Council, in which the Council was exonerated of direct and indirect...
Mandatory retirement age
Heyday legal challenge to forced retirement age.
Maternity and paternity pay increases
HMRC has announced the increase to several child-related benefits has been delayed. Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and Statutory Adoption Pay were to increase to 52 weeks for all babies due on or after April 2009 but this now has been...
Maternity leave: sick pay
Maternity leave: sick pay
New Minimum Wage Rates Announced
New minimum wages
New Tribunal Limits
The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2006, which details the annual inflation-linked increase in limits on the amounts which can be awarded by employment tribunals, was made on 14 November 2006 and applies where the appropriate date falls on or...
Non-compete clause can be enforceable
Non-compete clause can be enforceable
Non-compete clause is reasonable court concludes
Reasonable restrictive covenant clause prevents MD working for competitor.
Officer wins claim for unpaid salary
RAF officer wins claim for unpaid salary
Officer wins claim for unpaid salary
RAF officer wins claim for unpaid salary
One in five bullied at work
Bullying at work is rampant says report.
Outsourcing Outcasts in India
Outsourcing outcasts in India.
Partnerships and the new age discrimination laws
Partnerships and age discrimination
Protection of Harassment Act 1997 makes employers vicariously liable for harassment acts of employees
Protection Of Harassment Act
Recruitment - Preventing Illegal Working Without Discrimination
Hardly a day goes by without there being some mention of illegal immigration in the news. The number of people discovered working here unlawfully has risen sharply in recent years. There has been much talk of the possible introduction of a national identity...
Redundancy payments amended
redundancy changed due to age discrimination
Smoking Ban ends the office smoking room.
Smoking ban set for 2007 in England and Wales.
Staff Handbook forms part of the employment agreement
staff handbook
Stopping the vexatious employment litigant
unfair employment law claims
Stress - An Employer's Duties
Dealing with stress in the workplace is a difficult issue for employers. As well as specific duties under health and safety legislation, employers owe their employees a common law duty to take reasonable care to safeguard their health and safety and this...
TUPE - Post-Transfer Obligations and Collective Agreements
The Court of Appeal has overturned the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Alemo-Herron and others v Parkwood Leisure Ltd. Parkwood Leisure Ltd. had taken over a company that acquired employees of the London Borough of Lewisham’s...
TUPE - Service Provision Changes
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) apply to any size of business and protect the employment rights of employees when their employer changes as a result of a relevant transfer. This occurs when there is a...
TUPE-only sham agreement can pierce the corporate veil
Veils of a different sort have been in the news lately re Jack Straw and others. In the corporate world courts can only remove a business’s limited status-known as lifting the veil-in very limited circumstances. One of these is where there exists a...
Taxation of termination payments in employment disputes
Payment In Lieu Of Notice-tax
The "right" to work from home
Rights of homeworkers
The Corporate Manslaughter Act
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 established a new statutory offence of corporate manslaughter (corporate culpable homicide in Scotland). An organisation is guilty of the offence if the way in which it manages or organises its...
The Equality Act 2010 - A Guide for Employers
The Equality Act 2010 has replaced nine major pieces of discrimination legislation and other ancillary measures that have been introduced over the last forty years. The core provisions of the Act came into force on 1 October 2010. As well as harmonising...
The Occupational Pension Schemes (Consultation by Employers and Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2006
pension scheme consultation
The Temporary and Agency Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Bill
Temporary Agency Bill draws close-2 March 2007
The dangers of online portrayals
MySpace and other online dangers for job candidates.
Transfer could be reason for dismissal even if potential buyer not yet identified
Transfer could be reason for dismissal even if potential buyer not yet identified
Tribunal to rule on application of TUPE to transfer of client accounts between law firms
Tribunal to rule on application of TUPE to transfer of client accounts between law firms
Workplace Bullying
Workplace bullying is not only unpleasant and demotivating but it is also claimed to cost British business £14 billion annually. Surprisingly, there is no specific law relating to workplace bullying, although some forms of offensive behaviour would...
Written Statement of Employment Particulars
A contract of employment may be verbal but all employees, whether part-time or full-time, are entitled by law to be given a written statement setting out the main particulars of their employment, provided their employment lasts for one month or more. All the...

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Latest News

Long-Term Sickness and the Accrual of Annual Leave

Disability - Reasonable Adjustments and Their Chance of Success

Employment Status - Employee or Partner?

Unfair Dismissal Claims - Extension of Time Limits

Government Consults on Proposed Employment Tribunal Fees

EHRC Proposes 'Reasonable Accommodation' for Religion or Belief

Your Christmas Party

HSE Publishes Latest Fatal Injury Statistics

Government Announces Employment Law Reforms

The Agency Workers Regulations

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