With over 10,000 cases of swine flu reported in the UK and the World Health Organisation warning of a global pandemic, prudent employers should prepare themselves for possible disruption in the coming months.
Government estimates indicate that, at its peak, a pandemic could lead to absentee rates of 15-20%, which could prove to be catastrophic to [...]

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The case of BCM Group PLC v Visualmark Ltd & Anor highlighted some important points regarding commercial agents and restrictive covenants.
In the case, the agent, a seller of office equipment, disputed a restrictive covenant in his contract which read as follows:
16.1 The agent agrees that the agent will not following the termination of this agreement [...]

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The recent case of Lothian & Borders Fire & Rescue Service v Gray has highlighted an important difference between the standard and modified grievance procedures under the 2004 regulations.
After Mr Gray suffered injuries at work, he subsequently claimed that his employer had failed to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate his needs as they were obligated [...]

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In a recent ruling in the Court of Appeal, a car repair company won its case to prevent a former franchise holder from operating a competing business in breach of a restrictive covenant.
The company offered franchises which allowed other businesses to use its name, products and expertise in certain areas. The franchise agreement included a [...]

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Dr Chakrabarti, a GP, brought claims for unfair dismissal and age discrimination in March 2007 against the Castlemilk Group Practice. The practice refuted these claims, stating that Dr Chakrabarti was not unfairly dismissed because he was a partner and not an employee, and that there had been no age discrimination as he had previously agreed [...]

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Ms Heslip worked as a sales manager for drug company Teva, covering the Cornwall area, until she was made redundant from her position. According to Teva, the reason for her redundancy was that the company would no longer be actively marketing their products in Cornwall. After consultation, she was notified of her redundancy with immediate [...]

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A recently released survey of UK graduates paints a relatively bleak picture of the employment prospects for recent graduates.
Real Prospects is a new annual survey of graduates in employment which seeks to gauge their opinions on how the realities of working life match up with the expectations they had for their career after leaving university.
The [...]

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In the recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case of Wanbeck District Council v Fisher, the EAT came to the rare conclusion that the original tribunal’s conclusions were perverse in law.
Mr Fisher was Community Services Manager for Wanbeck District Council. He was accused of bullying Mrs Nevens, Project Manager at a Healthy Living Centre. The accusations [...]

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The Confederation of British Industry, the UK’s leading independent employer’s organisation, has proposed a radical new alternative to redundancy to help secure jobs through the current economic downturn.
The Alternative to Redundancy (ATR) scheme would allow businesses who are experiencing a fall in demand to pay workers to stay at home for a period of up [...]

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The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced a new consultation on the ease of information exchange between employment tribunals and regulatory bodies in whistleblowing cases.
Approximately 1,700 whistleblowing claims (i.e. claims involving the Public Interest Disclosure Act, or PIDA) were brought before employment tribunals last year. At present there is no mechanism by [...]

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