The government has outlined plans to end the pay gap between men and women within a generation. It says the first step is the introduction of the living wage, which will be set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016 and rise to more than £9 per hour by 2020. This will be particularly helpful
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has provided a ruling clarifying how long an employee is entitled to wait before taking annual leave accrued while he was off work due to illness. The case involved an employee who had been absent on sick leave from April 2010 until his employment ended in February 2014. In July
There has been an 11% increase in the number of landlords prepared to write off unpaid rent in order to speed up the process of eviction, according to figures released by Thomson Reuters. Researchers say the number of accelerated procedure notices jumped from 26,929 in 2013/14 to 29,821 in 2014/15. Speaking to the Solicitors Journal,
A company had a multi-million pound contract terminated because it failed to foresee the extent of ground contamination on a development site and failed to carry out its own checks. The case involved a construction company that entered into a contract with the government of Gibraltar to construct a road and tunnel. The contract incorporated
The government is being urged to throw out the rulebook relating to late payments and start afresh if it really wants to tackle the problem that bedevils so many small businesses. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has conducted a widespread study into the issue and produced a report, Ending Late Payment. It says
Two directors have been disqualified after a court heard how they tried to “buy time” for their ailing company by producing misleading accounts and VAT figures. The directors were sole shareholders in a company importing and supplying plywood and sheet materials. At first their company was successful but it suffered a downturn in 2009 and
The co-owner of a restaurant has won her appeal to overturn an inaccurate valuation of the company’s shares by an independent expert. The issue arose because the restaurant had two co-owners who had equal shareholdings. A dispute arose and it was agreed that the best solution was for one shareholder to buy out the other
Many employers are at risk of breaking pregnancy discrimination regulations despite wishing to support female staff, according to new official research. A survey commissioned jointly by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that most employers felt it was in their interests to support pregnant women and
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that trade union and health and safety meetings can count as working time for the purposes of employment law. The case involved two employees who worked 12-hour shifts for a company called Encirc Ltd. One also served as a health and safety officer and the other was a trade
An employee who was sacked over a risqué photo that he posted on Facebook has won his claim of unfair dismissal. The case involved 31-year-old Faisal Auld who had worked for the company Norbert Dentressangle for 10 years. In 2009 he had posted a photo of himself holding a work colleague in a headlock in