News

From January 11th 2016, employees and workers on zero hours contracts have a right to complain to an employment tribunal if they are dismissed or suffer detriment as a result of working for someone else in breach of an exclusivity clause.  Since May 2015, these clauses have been unenforceable and now, with the new measures, […]

The government has launched a campaign which aims to change the country’s perception of pensions in the workplace and to remind employers of their workplace pension’s duties. More information about the campaign is available here. Since the introduction of the automatic enrolment into workplace pensions in 2012, every employer with at least one employee is […]

 Long term absence and disability discrimination Disability discrimination is one of the most complex areas of employment law and employers are ill advised to move to dismissal prematurely.  In a recent case the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an employment tribunal (ET) must consider whether the employer could have been expected to wait a […]

What to look out for during the festive season’s celebrations With the festive season fast approaching and a number of work-related events planned, a risk management strategy should be employed in advance to ensure that every precaution is taken against possible accidents or claims. As you may already know, company events are deemed to be […]

Data protection issues permeate every organisation and all levels of society,  as you may already be aware, anyone who collects ‘personal data’ is a ‘data controller’ for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’).  Under the DPA, the data controller (in this case, you or your business) is required to comply with the […]

As we all now know, there was little information within the Autumn Statement ‘blue book’ as to how HMRC will respond to the recent consultation on reforming tax reliefs on travel and subsistence expenses or how PSCs are to be treated following rumours that PSC status will be removed after a short period on contract. […]

There was little information within the Autumn Statement ‘blue book’ today as to how HMRC will respond to the recent consultation on reforming tax reliefs on travel and subsistence expenses to a temporary place of work, save that the test for personal service companies will be whether they are caught by IR35.   This means […]

Last week (w/c 16/11/2015) Lawspeed received a flurry of calls following the publication of a press story by the union UCATT concerning an employment tribunal ‘win’ against an umbrella company by one of its members. Coming so close to the anticipated announcement in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement as to the future of tax reliefs on travel […]

We have all heard horror stories about modern slavery and human trafficking from all corners of the world. For those who haven’t seen it, I highly recommend Lukas Moodysson’s critically acclaimed film ‘Lilja 4-ever’. This is a harrowing tale of the downward spiral of Lilja, a young girl from Estonia who, in that case is […]

 A new mandatory energy assessment and saving scheme has been introduced by the ESOS Regulations 2014 which applies to any ‘large undertaking’ in the UK. This is known as the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme ‘ESOS’ and requires qualifying organisations to have an audit carried out. The audit should identify areas of energy conservation saving which […]

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has recently launched a campaign to clamp down on employment agencies who are not registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. Employment and recruitment agencies will inevitably hold personal details on file for clients and candidates which may include their skill set and work experience, as this information is used […]

Employment Law Roundup Cap on redundancy pay under the new Enterprise Act Public sector accounts for 2013/2014 show that £1.8 billion had been paid out in exit payments. A number of “golden parachutes” were in excess of £100,000. To address the implications of dipping into the dwindling public purse, the Enterprise Act seeks to limit […]

In the second part of its combined tax debate and seminar event held on 23rd September, Lawspeed welcomed a senior civil servant from the department of Business, Innovation and Skills to talk about BIS’ stance on government regulation and standards. “We felt that our attendees would want to have some insight into the direction the […]

In May 2014, the European Court of Justice clarified that if workers are paid commission as part of their remuneration, commission must be included when calculating holiday pay (see Lock v British Gas). This was confirmed by the Employment Tribunal (ET) during a two day hearing in February this year. However, the ET decision did […]