The sight of Lehman Brothers’ employees leaving the office with cardboard boxes in their arms arguably marked the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis. However, as a Court of Appeal ruling made plain, the bank’s European branch did not go bust and, thanks to the tireless work of insolvency professionals, a multi-billion-pound surplus became available […]
08/11/2017Hard-edged opinions are all too easily formed in the heat of disciplinary proceedings, but employers must be careful to stand back and take a balanced approach. In one case in which that did not happen, a senior hospital radiologist won the right to substantial compensation following her unfair dismissal. When facing a disciplinary hearing, the […]
07/11/2017Minority shareholders are entitled to expect that their rights will be respected by the majority and that they will be kept informed of decisions that might affect their interests. However, as one High Court case showed, compensation for breach of such rights is only payable where a real financial loss is established. A software company […]
06/11/2017The position of ‘live-in’ workers as regards employment status and rights has long been a bone of contention in the care industry in particular, leading the Government to create a new compliance scheme for social care employers. Amid concern that ‘sleep-in’ shift workers may have been incorrectly paid less than the National Minimum Wage, the […]
06/11/2017The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published annual statistics for health and safety at work in Great Britain for the year April 2016 to March 2017. These show that an estimated 31.2 million days were lost through work-related ill health (25.7 million days) and non-fatal workplace injury (5.5 million days). In addition, in 2016/2017 […]
03/11/2017The phrase ‘lost in translation’ was certainly apposite to a High Court case in which a commercial dispute hinged on the disputed meaning of a foreign statute, which was written in two foreign languages and had been translated into English six times, each version throwing up slight, but potentially critical, differences. Two companies had obtained […]
31/10/2017Diplomats are immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of host countries – but there are limits to that principle. The Supreme Court identified one such in an important decision concerning a domestic servant who claimed to have been trafficked and mistreated by a diplomat and his wife. In a ruling that was subsequently upheld […]
30/10/2017If a negligent worker causes injury in the course of his job, compensation is generally payable by his or her employer under the principle of vicarious liability. However, as one case concerning an office prank showed, that does not apply where the worker concerned is on a frolic of his own. A woman suffered a […]
27/10/2017Fire safety regulations are there to be obeyed and those who fail to do so will be hit hard in the pocket. In one case, a sweets manufacturer was fined £60,000 after a five-storey building that it occupied was condemned as a potential death trap. The company ran a sweet shop on the ground floor […]
26/10/2017Once an hour or perhaps every two? Will anyone even notice? It can be a controversial topic, but these are your rights to smoking at work If you’re a smoker, are you legally entitled to a few minutes a day out of the office for a quick cigarette break? It’s a question that divides many […]
23/10/2017