The Court of Appeal has ruled that a teacher’s dismissal was at the extreme end of reasonable but was not unfair. The teacher had been dismissed following a disciplinary hearing. Her internal appeal was dismissed after the panel found that she had repeatedly failed to follow reasonable management requests to attend meetings; had communicated in
An engineer who was dismissed after his employer monitored his emails has won his appeal that his right to privacy had been breached. The case involved a Romanian company that set up an IT system and Yahoo messenger account to enable employees to send work-related emails. It was against company policy to use the systems
A company’s decision to use new technology to bring one of its services back in house did not remove its responsibility under TUPE to hire workers affected by the change. That was the decision of the Employment Tribunal in the case of Anglo Beef Processors UK and a meat inspector, Mr Longland. Anglo hired an
A postman has been awarded £22,000 compensation after his arrangement to work flexible hours was altered without his agreement. The Employment Tribunal heard that Adam Gregory had worked for Royal Mail for more than 20 years. Following his divorce in 2012, he requested that he should only work Monday to Friday to enable him to
A bus driver with an “exemplary record” who was sacked for going through traffic lights when they were on red has won his unfair dismissal claim. The Employment Tribunal heard that Abdul Jabber had worked for National Express West Midlands for 37 years and had an unblemished record. He was sacked in October 2015 after
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which oversees data protection in the UK, has urged businesses to prepare for major regulation changes coming into force next year. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU initiative to harmonise data protection across the European Union and it will apply in the UK from 25 May 2018.
A company was not justified in terminating a contract due to alleged defects in work carried out but that did not remove its right to recover overpayments. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving a multi-million-pound contract between Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd and Merit Merrell Technology Ltd. Merrell had agreed
Good cash flow is the life blood of any business so it’s essential to monitor overdue invoices and act quickly to ensure payment. Failure to act promptly could mean your firm incurs damaging losses if a defaulting customer becomes insolvent and can’t afford to pay you. There are several early signs that a customer may
The landlord of a flat containing asbestos was not responsible for the death of a tenant who suffered from malignant mesothelioma. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving the family of the tenant and Hammersmith Council. A claim for damages had been brought by the tenant’s widow. She believed her
If you’ve worked hard to build up a successful business it’s only natural that you wish to hand it on to your sons or daughters. However, there are several risks involved. In some ways, succession plans involving family members are more likely to cause problems than handovers involving complete strangers. With strangers, people tend to