Many businesses now allow their employees to use personally-owned devices (such as tablets, smartphones, laptops or notebook computers) in the workplace. The government has recently issued a collection of guidance notes on risk management in the context of “bring your own device” (BYOD). The guidance sets out best practice for Read more…
An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision provides a reminder to businesses to ensure that they have a clear adverse weather policy in place and that employees are kept as up-to-date as possible regarding any altered working arrangements during periods of adverse weather. The EAT allowed an appeal against an employment Read more…
Businesses will welcome an EAT decision on the right to time off for dependants which highlights the need for employees to ensure that they make contact with their employer to tell them why they are absent as soon as reasonably practicable for them to do so. The employee in this Read more…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A High Court case illustrates that it is not always in an employer’s best interests to immediately place an employee on garden leave, or seek injunctive relief against a departing employee when they leave to set up in competition. Although seeking an injunction is often the knee-jerk reaction of an Read more…
In what appears to be one of the few times that a judge has felt justified in allowing the inspection and imaging of employees’ computers, the High Court has recently ordered that an employer may instruct an independent computer expert to inspect and take images from the personal computers of Read more…