Nurse dismissed by North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS for refusing to work weekends wins appeal in landmark ruling
July 6th 2021A nurse who was dismissed for refusing to work weekends has won a landmark ruling that could affect thousands of women with children. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. The community nurse had worked fixed days because she had three children, including two with disabilities. However, she was dismissed after the trust introduced weekend working. She said she was unable to work Saturdays and Sundays…
Boss told cancer patient she was ‘lucky to get a free boob job’
June 23rd 2021A woman with breast cancer who was told by her boss that she was lucky to get a free boob job from the NHS, has won her claim of harassment. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. Aggie Kownacka was a recruitment manager for Textbook Teachers from June 2017 until December 2018. In May 2018, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was required to undergo…
Children entitled to a share of father’s estate despite estrangement
June 16th 2021Two teenage brothers have been granted a share of their father’s estate even though they were estranged from him and had been excluded from his will. Rebecca Armstrong Associate Solicitor reports on this recent case. The two boys, referred to only as J and H in court, who were aged 16 and 15 respectively at the date of their father’s death in 2018. Their parents had divorced in 2012. The…
Court allows company to search employee’s personal computer
June 14th 2021A company has been granted permission to search an employee’s personal computer and other devices as part of its investigation into the potential misuse of confidential information. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. The case involvedDigital Realty Trust Inc and its senior director of acquisitions, Mr Coogan. The nature of his role meant that he had access to commercially sensitive and confidential information central…
Court outlines the meaning of ‘deathbed gifts’ in inheritance cases
June 1st 2021The High Court has provided some useful guidelines on what is required for a person’s statements to be legally classed as ‘deathbed gifts’ in inheritance cases. The court was asked to determine the proper distribution of the estate of a married couple. The wife died in January 2019 of cancer and the husband died of a heart attack shortly after in May 2019. The couple had each executed a will…
Safety first when it comes to e-scooters
June 1st 2021Electric scooters or e-scooters have become increasingly popular in recent years, and are now a common sight in our towns and cities. Thinking it over with Carol Fish Director & Head of Serious and Catastrophic Injury… As part of its Future of Transport regulatory review, the Government currently is rolling out trials of e-scooter rentals across the country, with Copeland one of a number of areas chosen to assess the safety and…
Court settles siblings’ dispute over their mother’s will
May 28th 2021The High Court has refused to allow a man to remortgage his deceased mother’s house after her three other children disputed the validity of a purported will and where there was reason to believe that she had been subjected to undue influence. Rebecca Armstrong Associate Solicitor reports on this recent case. The property was a five-bedroom house in south London in which the mother had lived since her divorce in…
Law firm doubles house transactions as research says UK market on course to be busiest since 2007
May 26th 2021A LEADING legal firm has doubled its number of house sale transactions over the past year, in line with a national trend in the property market.As research released today predicted that this year’s housing market is on course to be the busiest since 2007, Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors said its property department had seen a huge jump in transactions since last April. According to the property website Zoopla around 1.52 million…
Sleep-in care workers lose final appeal over minimum wage
May 24th 2021Care workers who slept overnight at their workplace were “available for work” rather than “working” and so were not entitled to be paid the national minimum wage for the whole of their sleep-in shift. Joanne Stronach Director & Head of Employment and HR reports on this recent case. That was the decision of the Supreme Court in two cases that have major implications for residential care homes. Care workers who…
New 95% mortgages for first-time buyers and existing homeowners
May 20th 2021The government’s new scheme to help people buy a home with a 95% mortgage has now come into effect. Mandy Shum Conveyancer in our property team provides an update. It means buyers can now get on the property ladder even if they only have a 5% deposit. The mortgages are available to both first-time buyers and existing homeowners for houses costing up to £600,000. The government will offer lenders the…
