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Two recent cases involving fathers taking paternity leave have highlighted a defining difference between parental leave and a mother’s statutory maternity leave. One male employee who worked for a technology firm sued for sex discrimination after his employers insisted he should not be paid at the same rate as mothers on statutory maternity leave. A
A social worker has won her discrimination claim after a drawn-out dispute with her employers in which she was asked, “how long would this disabled thing go on”. Patricia Murphy worked for Northumberland County Council from 1999. She suffered a foot injury in 2014 and lost some mobility. A series of complaints led to her
After two years of intensive research the Pension Advisory Group has published an essential guide clarifying the legal treatment of pensions on divorce. Pensions are often the single largest asset after the family home for divorcing couples, yet a lack of understanding and clarity across England and Wales has led to confusion as to how
House prices rose slightly over the year to March, but there was a fall in the latest monthly figures. The UK House Price Index shows that prices fell by an average of 0.2% between February and March. However, there was an annual rise of 1.4%. The average house in the UK is now valued at
A divorcing husband has been ordered to disclose documents relating to his financial affairs, despite claiming that doing so could lead to his arrest. The case involved a businessman whose wife believed he had an interest in a German company that he was refusing to disclose. Two months after the wife had started divorce proceedings,
A brokerage firm has lost its appeal to reduce a penalty it received after it was found to have breached market abuse laws. Linear Investments Ltd was fined £409,300 after it failed to act responsibly and effectively in detecting and reporting the abuses. It had a responsibility to conduct its own post-trade surveillance, which it
Landlord groups have called on the government to establish a dedicated specialist housing court to speed up the process of legitimate evictions. The move comes after the Ministry of Justice published figures showing that it is now taking longer for private landlords to evict problem tenants. The average time between a landlord making a claim
An office worker was subjected to a ‘hostile, humiliating and offensive environment’ after she informed her employers that she was pregnant shortly after joining the company. Eilise Walker started working for Arco Environmental in November 2017, taking over the role of office manager. After three weeks, Walker informed her bosses that she was pregnant. Walker
Corporate insolvencies continue to rise with companies struggling to cope with falling consumer confidence and Brexit uncertainty. Underlying corporate insolvencies rose by 6.3% in Q1 2019 compared to Q4 2018, and rose by 5.1% compared to Q1 2018. Stuart Frith, president of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, said: “These insolvency figures – the highest
Two directors have been disqualified after the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) found them guilty of participating in a secret cartel. The move follows the CMA’s statement of objections issued on 13 December 2018, alleging that 3 suppliers of pre-cast concrete drainage products – CPM Group Ltd (CPM), Stanton Bonna Ltd, and FP McCann Ltd