News On 22 April 2014, court fees payable in the High Court and County Court for insolvency relating applications and filings increased, sometimes substantially. For example, the petition fee for an administration order has increased to £280 and the court fee for an application within existing insolvency proceedings has increased Read more…
The High Court has granted an injunction to enforce a 12 month non-compete restrictive covenant which, if read literally, offered the claimant employer no protection at all. The court was prepared to read words into the covenant to produce a commercially sensible result. This case is a useful reminder of Read more…
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has published details of its updated policy on enforcement of the national minimum wage, which includes the revised scheme for naming and shaming employers, and the new system of increased financial penalties of up to £20,000 for the most serious cases. If Read more…
Several changes to planning law came into force on 6 April 2014. The changes introduce a number of new permitted development rights for change of use: New Class CA allows a building used as a shop to be used as a bank, a building society, a credit union or a Read more…
Businesses should take note of an Employment Appeal decision confirming that covert recordings made by an employee of the public and private discussions of the panel at her grievance and disciplinary hearings could be admitted as evidence at a final hearing. Whether conversations that are covertly recorded are admissible in Read more…
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…
In April’s business briefing we explain what a tenancy deposit scheme (TDS) is and what a landlord’s obligations are under a TDS. What is a tenancy deposit scheme? A landlord under an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) must protect a tenant’s deposit by using an authorised tenancy deposit scheme (TDS) operated 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…