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Sharon Tan and Richard Cook look at the importance of clear documentation for start-up companies following a Court of Appeal decision ‘What is immediately apparent from this decision is the importance of formalising senior employees’ terms at the outset, even in the informal and often hectic world of the start-up company.’In the fast paced world …
Continue reading "Contracts Of Employment: Terms for senior employees merit serious consideration"
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The latest decision on employing workers who live overseas shows that there are no easy answers to whether they can bring a claim in the UK employment tribunal, warns Kevin McCavish ‘In Serco, Lord Hoffman was keen to emphasise that a universal test would not work when determining the question of territorial jurisdiction and that …
Continue reading "Territorial Jurisdiction: One size doesn’t fit all"
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Gary Freer examines a case in which the employer dismissed a senior manager for misconduct only after actively looking for a pretext to do so ‘The issue to be decided was whether Mr Williams’ conduct amounted to a sufficiently serious breach of the implied duty of trust and confidence to amount to a repudiation of …
Continue reading "Summary Dismissal: Digging for dirt"
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Richard Nicolle discusses the latest proposals aimed at removing cultural barriers to reporting wrongdoing ‘The cultural shift that these reports aim to promote is a welcome one but it will be a lengthy process and, in the meantime, whistleblowers remain wary about raising concerns.’ Over the past year, there has been an increased focus on …
Continue reading "Whistleblowing: Celebrating speaking up"
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Alexandra Mizzi analyses the ECJ’s decision on whether an obese childminder could bring a discrimination claim ‘Despite the controversy, the decision that a severely obese worker cannot bring a discrimination claim does not establish any radical new principle in UK employment law. It may, however, have some interesting practical implications.’ Just before the festive season …
Continue reading "Discrimination Law: Is obesity the new disability?"
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Is it lawful for an employer to dismiss someone because they pose a risk to its reputation or brand? Melanie Lane, Stephanie Pitman and Tamsin Blow report ‘For a dismissal for reputational reasons to be fair under s98(4) of the ERA, the employer must take a critical view of any allegations by a third party …
Continue reading "Corporate Reputation Management: Protecting an employer’s good name"
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Pamela Morris and Jo Joyce discuss the issues raised by the use of wearable technology in the workplace ‘Smart watches and clothing that can record or photograph information and disseminate it through other devices may pass unnoticed and unchallenged in situations where mobile phones are banned.’Production of Google Glass was halted last month. Privacy concerns …
Continue reading "Data Protection: Fashion surveillance"
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A recent case highlights the importance of following proper procedures when amending employees’ contracts, writes Michael Ryley ‘The museum would not have had a problem in the first place had its HR managers chased down the employee to deliver written acceptance: the problem arose from a failure of the administrative process and the lack of …
Continue reading "Employment Contracts: The science of changing terms and conditions"
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Employers must provide employees with substantial consideration in exchange for signing up to new contract terms if they are to be effective, explains Stefan Martin ‘This article focuses on whether Mr Sendall was bound by the restrictive covenants in his contact and, in particular, what constitutes proper consideration for post-termination restrictions to be enforceable.’A recent …
Continue reading "Restrictive Covenants: Saying yes is not enough"
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Mark Kaye considers a recent EAT decision on the right of women on maternity leave to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy ‘This case is a useful reminder to employers and their advisers that the right under Reg 10 is an absolute one.’ Women on maternity leave have special protection in a redundancy situation by …
Continue reading "Maternity Leave: Employers’ duties in a redundancy situation"
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