In a case in the Appeal Tribunal last week, constructive dismissal was examined. If an employee is claiming constructive dismissal, they must either resign promptly and immediately after the alleged breach by the employer, or they must give their notice in promptly. In this case the emplopyee gave 7 months...

The Supreme Court has ruled this week on the status of LLP Members and decided that they are workers. This should be of concern to any company structured as an LLP as members now have all the rights associated with worker status; such as rights to protection for whistleblowing, working...

The new Business to Consumer Selling Regulations will come into force this Friday (13th June 2014).  If you currently sell goods or services directly to consumers, then it’s very likely that these changes will require you to amend your current documentation and business processes. If your business is involved with...

A worrying case was published last week concerning whether an employee should be paid the minimum wage where they are required to sleep the night at work. The case in question concerned a care worker who, while she had normal working hours, also had occasional sleep in duty. The reason for...

The High Court has held that a 12-month non-competition post-termination restrictive covenant in an agreement between a financial adviser and his employer was enforceable. Under a "goodwill agreement", the financial adviser had been paid for the goodwill in the client base he brought with him to the firm, but was...

From 6 May 2014 any employee wanting to bring a Tribunal claim will first have to contact ACAS and go through early conciliation. When they contact ACAS they will fill in a form giving the details of who should be contacted at the employer company. ACAS realise that in some...

We are reminded this week that employers who take part in public sector tendering are at risk of potentially business closing claims if they do not carry out proper due diligence, and this is particularly the case regarding Equal Pay. In a Scottish case, women traffic wardens have won the right...

A question on any TUPE service provision change is whether the new provider of the service will be carrying on the same activities. If not, no TUPE. In this case a transport company provided warehouse and distribution services for a client. That contract ended and a new company took on the...

The Appeal Tribunal this week reminded us all that Custom and Practice as a way of forming contractual terms is very much alive and well. In this case the employer had consistently paid the statutory redundancy, but without a cap on a weeks pay. They then carried out a redundancy where...

A recent case has established that LLPs rank as “associated employers” when it comes to claims under the Equal Pay Act.  This means that if you are an LLP, and are inheriting employees from a Council under TUPE, then those employees are able to compare themselves to employees back at the...