Employers will welcome a Court of Appeal decision that robustly rejected the idea that they are obliged to make reasonable adjustments for employees or job applicants who are associated with disabled people (in this case, for a non-disabled employee whose daughter has Down’s syndrome). The court held that the reasonable Read more…
Registering residential tenancy deposits Many private residential landlords, particularly those with large tenant portfolios, will be concerned by a recent County Court decision. The court held that, even if the tenancy deposit had been protected at the outset of the fixed term of the assured shorthold tenancy (AST), the registration Read more…
A recent High Court decision provides useful guidance for businesses on how they should deal with the competing rights, legal obligations and interests of the parties involved when providing a reference. The court held that a police force should not be permitted to send a further reference to the new Read more…
Businesses should take note of an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case that highlights the importance of formalising employment relationships. The EAT held that an employment tribunal erred in finding that a director and shareholder, who performed part-time work for a company without pay for at least three years, was an Read more…
Landlords with existing residential leases that provide for a third party to determine the service charge will be concerned by an Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) decision. The tribunal held that a provision in a lease of a dwelling that provided for the apportionment of the service charge by a third Read more…
The Supreme Court has held that a former equity partner of a law firm incorporated as a limited liability partnership (LLP) was clearly a worker and therefore eligible to bring a whistleblowing claim against the LLP. As a result of this decision, LLP members will become entitled to a range Read more…
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a security report providing best practice on how to avoid eight common IT security vulnerabilities that most frequently lead to data security breaches. This checklist highlights the key legal obligations that a business should consider when dealing with personal data about customers, suppliers, Read more…
Two surveys have highlighted the risk of candidates providing fake references and the fact that a large number of staff fail their probationary periods. This suggests that employers may need to review their procedures for checking references and for assessing probationary periods. The Federation of Small Businesses and BBC1 worked Read more…
Landlords will breathe a sigh of relief following a recent Court of Appeal judgement. In this case, the tenant had exercised a break clause, ending the lease early. It sought a refund of parts of payments it had made in advance for rent, service charge, car parking and insurance charges, Read more…
Although small businesses will not be subject to the pensions auto-enrolment requirements until June 2015 at the earliest, they should nevertheless take note of a recently published Pensions Regulator report. The report highlights key points for employers to consider to ensure they comply with their auto-enrolment duties. It suggests that Read more…