A recent case in the High Court has determined that, in certain special circumstances, an employee should have the right to be represented by a lawyer at an internal disciplinary hearing. Previously, only a co-worker or union official had been permitted to accompany an employee in such a manner.
In the case of R v The [...]

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The Coroners and Justice Bill currently before Parliament will attempt to introduce new provisions to allow the Government to regulate currently unregulated damages-based arrangements, commonly known as “contingency fee arrangements” or “no win no fee”.
Due to a long-standing interpretation of the law which classes employment law as “non-contentious”, conditional fee agreements in this area of [...]

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Due to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act of 2007, the requirement that unpaid tribunal awards must be registered in the County Court (or High Court) has been dropped as of April 1st 2009.
According to a recent announcement, the Government has entered into talks with the High Court Enforcement Officers Association aimed at establishing a [...]

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A landmark judgement at the Court of Appeal has determined that using length of employment as one of the criteria in a redundancy selection process does not fall foul of age discrimination legislation.
The long-running case of Rolls-Royce v Unite the Union centred on negotiations to decide upon the criteria that would be used to select [...]

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A recent ruling by the Court of Appeal has determined that there is no fundamental reason why a director and shareholder of a company can not also be an employee of that company and benefit from the legal rights afforded to all employees.
The effects of this case could be wide-ranging, as it means that directors [...]

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On the termination of a commercial agency agreement, one of the principal entitlements of the agent is indemnity. The value of this indemnity should be commensurate with the value of the agreement itself: however, what impact should the brand name of the products supplied have on this calculation?
While in English law this has not yet [...]

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The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case of Cambridge and Peterborough Foundations NHS Trust v Crouchman has demonstrated an important point on the flexibility of time limits in the light of further information received about a case.
Mr Crouchman was a psychiatric nurse who was dismissed from his job for misconduct. Two days before the three-month time [...]

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Difficult and wilfully obstructive employees can cause real headaches for employers, as the recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case of Chaplin v Howard Kennedy Solicitors has shown.
Miss Chaplin had had lengthy absences from work, including incidences of stress and anxiety. Her employer approached her to obtain consent for its Occupational Health advisers to approach her [...]

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Many employers are unaware that playing any kind of music in the workplace constitutes a public performance, and so to do so requires a music licence from the Performance Rights Society (PRS) to stay within the law.
Employers require a licence to play music from radios, CDs, TVs, over a telephone system and even for live [...]

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Research published by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has revealed that over two-thirds (70%) of UK employers are planning to freeze or even cut salaries during 2009.
The BCC’s latest Monthly Business Survey monitored 400 employers from the 23rd March to the 6th April. The results clearly demonstrate the damaging effect that the recession is [...]

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