Taxpayers will welcome confirmation by the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) that agreements with HMRC may be in full and final settlement without being explicitly labelled as such. However, if relying on this implicit status, taxpayers must carefully analyse the correspondence leading to, and comprising, the agreement to ensure that a Read more…
Businesses that use flexi-time schemes should take note of a recent EAT judgment that an employee, who was not paid on termination of employment for over 1000 extra hours worked under a flexi-hours scheme, had not suffered an unlawful deduction from wages. The EAT recognised that the poor drafting of Read more…
Two recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) cases highlight some of the issues a business needs to consider when contemplating dismissing an employee. The first case is a reminder to employers that contractual termination provisions must be clearly drafted and will be interpreted according to general contractual principles regarding repudiatory breach. Read more…
Businesses will welcome a High Court decision which held that non-solicitation and non-dealing restrictive covenants in the employment contract of a recruitment consultant were enforceable. The employer had a legitimate interest to protect, despite the fact that recruitment information was widely available on social media. The court also seemed to Read more…
A recent High Court decision provides a warning to company directors who move abroad without updating their address for service on the register of directors. The claimants served the claim form on the defendant (a former director of the claimants) by delivering it to two addresses in England, which he Read more…
Changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) (TUPE) came into force on 31 January 2014. Key changes include the following: Transferees may carry out pre-transfer collective redundancy consultation. The rules on changes to terms and conditions and dismissals have been redrafted to bring the Read more…
The Court of Appeal has held that clauses in a share purchase agreement providing that, in the event of a breach of the seller’s restrictive covenants, the buyer’s obligation to pay deferred consideration would cease and the buyer would be entitled to acquire the remainder of the seller’s shares at Read more…
Businesses will welcome a Court of Appeal decision that dismissed an appeal from a Christian employee who claimed they had suffered indirect discrimination on grounds of religious belief by being required to work on Sundays. The court held that the employer was successful in justifying the requirement to work on Read more…
The Court of Appeal has held that clauses in a share purchase agreement providing that, in the event of a breach of the seller’s restrictive covenants, the buyer’s obligation to pay deferred consideration would cease and the buyer would be entitled to acquire the remainder of the seller’s shares at Read more…
The Attorney General has published guidance to help prevent social media users from committing a contempt of court. The notes, which are available on www.gov.uk and on Twitter, have previously only been issued to print and broadcast media outlets on a “not for publication” basis. They are designed to make Read more…