Business Law

A middle-aged father who was overlooked for a role in the NHS because he was “very different” to the person who had previously held the position has won his claim of age discrimination. Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR reports. Mr N Clements applied for the role as a band 7 project manager at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in June 2018. The interviews were…

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a travel agency was wrong to take client contact information disclosed by its competitor’s former employees and add it to its own computer database. Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution reports. The issue arose after the agency, Trailfinders, hired some employees from a rival agency, Travel Counsellors Ltd (TCL). Trailfinders expected new employees to bring their own customers and encouraged them…

A commercial tenant has been refused permission to re-amend its defence to a service charge claim four weeks before trial. Stephanie Johnson Associate Solicitor reports. The court ruled that although the new defences had reasonable prospects of success, they could have been pleaded earlier and there was no good reason for the delay. The issue arose because the tenant refused to pay certain elements of the service charge relating to the…

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to nearly 1 in 10 workers being told to re-apply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions or face the sack, according to research by the TUC. Joanne Stronach Director & Head of Employment & HR reports. Almost a quarter say their working terms, such as pay or hours, have been downgraded since the first lockdown in March. The TUC commissioned an online survey of…

A SOLICITOR at a leading legal firm has joined the board of a charity which helps young people and adults find employment. Sam Lyon Head of Corporate and Commercial at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, has become a trustee of Inspira, which supports people in Cumbria and Lancashire prepare for a career, return to work or look for a first job. Sam has spent most of his legal career advising both large…

There has been a sudden surge in personal and corporate insolvencies, due mainly to the effects of the Covid pandemic. Sam Lyon Associate Solicitor and Head of Corporate & Commercial reports. Figures released by the Insolvency Service show there were 1,228 business failures in December 2020 compared with 891 in November. That’s a rise of 37.8%. It’s also 9.2% higher than in December 2019, when there were 1,125 insolvencies. There were…

The government is strengthening the Prompt Payment Code to ensure large companies pay small businesses on time. Carly Davies Debt Recovery Manager reports. Companies that have signed up to the code will be obliged to pay invoices within 30 days – half the time outlined under the current agreement. Despite almost 3,000 companies signing the code, poor payment practices are still rife, with many payments delayed well beyond the current 60-day…

The widespread administration of the vaccine in the UK is good news for many employers to help working life slowly return to normal in time. But what if one of your employees refuses to have it? The big question being considered by Joanne Stronach Head of Employment Law and HR is – can an employer require its employees to have the COVID19 vaccine? The quick answer is that the Government…

We are deeply concerned about the plight of the smaller businesses across the UK including the c. 3m self-employed directors of limited companies, who are not eligible for the government’s existing grants, and have therefore been excluded from the financial support measures thus far during COVID-19.  And this is one of the reasons that we are working ‘behind the scenes’ to try and influence the government to look at introducing more support…

Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution provides an update. Since last May, we’ve been following the proceedings launched by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to add some clarity to the availability of “Business Interruption” (BI) insurance as a result of business closures as a result of the pandemic.  Last September the High Court came to its conclusions, and as the national press has now reported the Supreme Court…