What is religious discrimination? Religion or belief is one of the ‘protected characteristics’ covered by the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act prohibits discrimination on any of the ‘protected characteristics’. It prohibits ...
Patrick Jenkins, Partner and Head of Litigation looks at some of the legal issues which can arise where no will, or a deficient will, has been prepared and why it is important to ensure that you have an up-to-date and properly executed ...
Today (1st March 2017) the main provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 have come into force. Some of the main changes are highlighted below. Increase in ballot thresholds For strike or industrial action to be lawful from 1st March ...
We take a look at a recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case which examines the use of expired warnings when dealing with misconduct dismissals. This case involved Mr Stratford who had a poor disciplinary record with his employer, ...
Disputes between neighbours and particularly where one neighbour has a right of way over their neighbour’s property, are not uncommon. Arguments between neighbours and rights of access can be highly emotive and relations between the ...
As a business, have you resolved this year to be more efficient? less stressed by HR issues? Or do you need some support with employment law matters? If so, we have created a service that has helped our small to medium sized clients ...
There are many statistics that are published about the gender pay gap but even having taken into account that women often work fewer hours for child care reasons, there are concerns that on average women are being paid less than men. ...
This update highlights a recent case which considers whether a company was liable for an employee’s attack on a fellow employee at a Christmas party. It is the case of Bellman v. Northampton Recruitment Ltd and it involves looking at ...
In the recent case of Grange v Abellio London Limited the Employment Appeal Tribunal considered the rules around rest breaks under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (the Regulations). Regulation 12 deals with rest breaks and states ...
What is a lasting power of attorney (LPA)? An LPA is a document which allows you to nominate somebody to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to. There are two types of LPA: Property and financial affairs Health and welfare ...
‘Whistleblowing protection’ refers to the protection afforded to employees and workers when they make a disclosure about their employer’s wrongdoing. They are protected from being victimised, dismissed or being treated detrimentally ...
The question of what someone’s status is, i.e. whether they are an employee, worker or genuinely self employed, has long been a complex area of law and frustrating for employers and lawyers alike. It is important because each has its ...
Three members of staff from MacDonald Oates; Robert Sawers, Daniel Drummond and Linda Wilson, successfully completed the Great South Run of 10 miles on Sunday in support of our charity of the year, the Sussex Snowdrop Trust. Linda ...
Couples going through a separation often fear the worst; lengthy court proceedings that result in nothing but upset and extortionate legal costs. However, in reality very few of our clients go down this route. Most cases we deal with ...
The on-going saga of Mr Lock’s case against British Gas has recently been to the Court of Appeal. You will recall we have looked at this case previously in our news updates. In brief, Mr Lock was engaged on a basic salary plus ...
ACAS have published a new guide to help employers whose employees who may have life threatening or long term illnesses. It is hoped this guidance will be useful to employers bearing in mind the number of employees who suffer from ...
We are very pleased to announce that on 1 October 2016 MacDonald Oates LLP acquired the firm of Brown-Hovelt Veale Nelson, where Roger Brown-Hovelt is the remaining Partner and sole practitioner. He has specialised in Wills, Trusts, ...
The following hourly rates of National Minimum Wage (NMW) will apply from 1 October 2016: The rate for workers aged 21 to 24 will be £6.95. The development rate (workers aged 18 to 20) will be £5.55. The young workers rate ...
Congratulations to Samantha Tayler, the latest member of the Wills, Probate and Trusts team. We are delighted to announce that Samantha Tayler has qualified as a solicitor, having successfully completed her two year training contract ...
This is an age old question and, from an employment lawyer’s view, it is one of the first questions to be asked with any commercial transaction: is it a TUPE transfer or not? But for those clients new to TUPE, their first question is ...
It appears we are being bombarded with reports and statistics about how women and new mothers are being treated in workplace. Previously it was the TUC report into the increase in sexual harassment in the workplace, then we heard ...
An investigation into potential disciplinary matters is important for various reasons. For example, any dismissal based on a poor investigation would be likely to be found unfair as any decision by a dismissing officer needs to be ...