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The new National Minimum Wage rates have now come into effect. The rate for adult workers has risen by 15p to £6.08 an hour. The rate for 18-20 year olds goes up by 6p to £4.98 an hour. The rate for 16-17 year olds has increased by 4p to £3.68 an hour. The rate for
The Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that a director breached his fiduciary duty when he made personal use of some equipment that had been loaned to his company. Fiduciary commitments simply mean that a director must act in the company’s best interest and avoid any conflict between his personal interests and his duty
When a business is transferred from one owner to another, the rights of employees are protected by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). This means the employees of the previous owner become employees of the new owner on the same terms and conditions. But what happens when the services provided by the
When buying a business it’s important to ensure that the seller doesn’t try to entice away clients or customers once the sale goes through. For this reason, most firms will insist on a covenant preventing the seller from setting up a rival business or soliciting his former customers for a specified period. The value of
Relationships between shareholders in small companies are often tense, but what happens if they refuse allow meetings to take place that could determine the future of the business? The issue arose in a case involving a taxi firm that had two shareholders who were also both directors. The minority shareholder played no active part in
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned that consumer landlords are still being presented with potentially unfair terms in contracts with some letting agents. The warning follows the enforcement case last year against Foxtons for breaching the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCR). Foxtons agreed to amend some of its terms concerning
The overall number of employment cases being brought to tribunals has fallen by 8%, but the number of age related claims has continued to rise. The latest figures from the Tribunals Service cover the period from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011. There were a total of 218,100 claims during that period, a fall
Four supermarkets and five dairy processors have been fined a total of £49.51m for co-ordinating prices. The action follows an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). It found that Arla, Asda, Dairy Crest, McLelland, Safeway, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, The Cheese Company and Wiseman infringed the Competition Act 1998 by co-ordinating increases in the prices
The Government has clarified when forfeiture action can and cannot be taken for non-payment of rent and other charges. The move comes after ministers were made aware that the Notes for Leaseholders, which are part of the Landlord and Tenant (Notice of Rent) (England) Regulations 2004, SI 2004/3096, could be misleading. To avoid any confusion,
Many buy to let landlords buying a new property rely on the valuation carried out by the surveyor acting on behalf of the mortgage lender. Until now they have been reasonably secure in doing so because the law accepted that these surveyors owed a duty of care to the purchaser. It meant that if the