Buying and selling businesses can be fraught with difficulties as highlighted in a recent case before the High Court. It involved a company that wanted to sell one of its subsidiaries. A Chief Operation Officer was appointed to oversee the sale and a purchaser was found. The officer prepared an information memorandum which described the
The Government has shelved plans to extend the Time to Train regulations to smaller firms. Employees with organisations employing more than 250 people have had the right to request time for training since April 2010. The previous Labour Government had planned to extend that right to small and medium-sized businesses in April this year. However,
Unpaid volunteers are not ‘employees’ as far as anti-discrimination law is concerned and so they do not have the same protection as paid workers. That was the ruling of the Court of Appeal in the case of a volunteer who worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). When the CAB told her it no longer
The maximum limits for redundancy payments and awards for various employment rights cases have risen in line with the annual index-linked formula. The limits are linked to the Retail Prices Index, which rose by 4.6% during the qualifying period from September 2009 to September 2010. The maximum compensation that can be awarded for unfair dismissal
New rights providing additional paternity leave and pay for fathers have now come into effect. The new rights apply to fathers whose partners gave birth on or after 3rd April this year. They allow fathers to take up to 26 weeks leave to care for their child providing they fulfil certain conditions. The additional paternity
Employers now have new rights to take positive action when looking at candidates for recruitment and promotion. The aim is to help create a greater diversity in the workplace, but there are strict controls. The new rules, effective from 6th April, mean that if all else is equal, an employer can select a candidate who
The High Court has ruled that a limited liability partnership had no right to expel one of its partners because there was no binding agreement giving it the necessary powers. The case involved a recruitment agency in which the three members had marketed themselves as partners since 2004. They then started to consider becoming a
New research has revealed that businesses are becoming increasingly worried about the twin problems of rising debts and falling profits. Surveys carried out by the insolvency trade body R3 show that one in five businesses (19%) are worried about the amount of debt they owe to their creditors. At the same time, more than 850,000
The recession has sparked a surge in the number of disputes between landlords and business tenants, according to new research. Figures compiled by the legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell show a 43% increase in disputes in the High Court in London involving landlords and tenants of commercial property. The numbers rose from 28 in 2008
Charities and the insolvency industry have welcomed proposals to reform Debt Relief Orders (DRO). Many people struggling with small debts have been unable to take advantage of the DRO scheme because they had pension arrangements, even though those pensions may have been of little value and not available for several years to come. The Government