February 2013 #137 – Law Journals

Compromise Agreements: No bonus for banker in breach of contract

An employee who joined a rival firm was not entitled to claim benefits designed to secure his loyalty, reports Gary Freer The decision on the relevance of the penalty doctrine to the compromise agreement will come as a relief to employers in the financial services sector in particular. The High Court has rejected an attempt …

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Restrictive Covenants: Make sure contracts are signed, sealed, delivered

Alice Giner examines the implications of two recent High Court cases on whether employers could rely on business protection provisions in contracts that had not been updated properly The High Court held, reaffirming the existing law, that the reasonableness of the restriction should be established based on the circumstances at the time at which the …

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Non-Competition Covenants: Can one size ever fit all?

Oliver Spratt compares the enforceability of post-termination restrictions in the UK, Europe and the US Probably the most fundamental difference between the jurisdictions covered in this article is whether compensation has to be provided to employees before restrictions will be enforceable.It has become increasingly common for multinational companies to try to implement employment policies that …

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Employee Shareholders: Risks not rewards

The government has failed to address many of the concerns highlighted during the consultation on shares for rights, finds James Warren The government has also acknowledged the need for further consideration of the tax treatment of the proposals and, in particular, the potential income tax charge related to the initial issue of shares to employees. …

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Collective Redundancy: A missed opportunity

Andrea Finn considers the impact of halving the minimum period for consulting on large-scale redundancies The government has said that it will work with Acas and stakeholders to assess the merits of including the detail suggested by employers and by the TUC. On 18 December 2012, the UK government published its response to its consultation …

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Service Provision Changes: Application of TUPE narrows

Mark Kaye reviews a recent case on when the exemption for a single specific event or task of short-term duration is triggered There is a risk that clients and service providers could circumvent the application of TUPE by deliberately agreeing to enter into contracts that are unusually short term in duration, only to extend the …

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Termination Of Employment: It ain’t over ’til it’s over

Failing to follow the correct procedure for dismissing an employee can mean that the employment contract continues, with potentially costly consequences, warns Tom Custance The obvious lesson from this case for employers is to ensure that they properly implement contractual termination provisions.On 19 December 2012 the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Société Générale, London …

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