We have a new Conservative Government which must now move from the euphoria of an unforecast election victory to the hard work of actually governing. Part of the Government’s agenda will be to overhaul areas of working life, e.g. pay, benefits, welfare, taxation, and employee relations in ways that may herald a significant shift in … Continue Reading
On February 2, 2015, President Obama released his proposal for the FY 2016 budget. In it he requests across the board funding increases for the Department of Labor (10.9% increase from FY 2015), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2.3% increase from FY 2015), and the National Labor Relations Board (1.4% increase from FY 2015). Considering the disparity between … Continue Reading
In case you missed it, we had a number of interesting items to discuss this past week (and a few new things to pass along, discussed below): Ryan Sobel discussed two new decisions out of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, each involving some unusual facts: the first reversing a lower court’s decision ordering a university … Continue Reading
I am pleased to confirm that we have just released our Retail Report for 2015. This has been done in conjunction with Kantar Retail, the British Retail Consortium and Retail Trust and features a foreword from the BRC and from Andy Street of John Lewis. An increasingly important element of any plan for growth is … Continue Reading
No-one will be unaware of the case of footballer Ched Evans who has represented Wales on 13 occasions. Evans was convicted of a rape in 2011 and has recently been released from prison having served half of his sentence – he spent two and a half years inside. Since his release, Evans has been close … Continue Reading
Santa stared with scarcely-concealed loathing at the young barrister elf across the desk from him in the Tribunal room. Sharp suit, shiny shoes and a knot in his nasty nylon tie almost as big as his head. David Beckham had a lot to answer for, Santa thought grimly. “Yes, Mr, er, Claus?” The Employment Judge’s … Continue Reading
Retaining or hiring employees as part of a transaction, even in the context of an asset acquisition, presents a host of issues related to potential successor employer obligations under the various labor and employment laws. Generally, the courts and government will look to the following criteria, which are applicable in some way or another to … Continue Reading
In a somewhat surprising application of the rules of construction, the High Court has in Prophet plc v Huggett [2014] EWHC 615 (Ch) upheld a restraint preventing a salesman from selling software in the fresh produce sector for a period of 12 months. Mr Huggett was engaged by his former employer, Prophet, in 2012 following … Continue Reading
Squire Sanders presents a series of webinars focussing on the key labour and employment issues in various countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific and the United States. On 26 March 2014 at 4 pm GMT (5 pm CET, 12pm EDT), the featured country is France. Join Jean-Marc Sainsard and Pauline Pierce from Squire Sanders’ Paris office … Continue Reading
“As the official language of the Republic according to the Constitution, French represents an essential part of both the personality and the national heritage of France. (…)”. (art. 1 of the 7 August, 1994 law on the use of French language). Anxious to preserve a fundamental element of the French cultural heritage, legislators have imposed … Continue Reading
I recently facilitated a leadership workshop for the senior management team of a leading PLC to focus on clarifying their strategic focus and objectives and develop their leadership competencies. They are a relatively new team who work remotely and rarely meet as a whole group, getting together mostly in smaller groups focussed on immediate operational … Continue Reading
Perhaps being a Judge could be more fun than is generally credited. After all every now and again you get to preside over a case like this little gem from Australia, and at a stroke ensure your immortality in student law reports. In PVYW –v- Comcare (No.2) reported this month, Ms W went on a … Continue Reading
Late last month the UK Border Agency (UKBA) took high-profile action against London Metropolitan University to revoke the University’s Tier 4 sponsor licence and Highly Trusted Sponsor status. Following an audit conducted by the UKBA, claimed failures by the University to ensure compliance with the Immigration Rules and UKBA policy have led the UKBA to … Continue Reading
I have always wanted to run a marathon before I die. Sadly time has conspired against me and now the risk of doing both on the same day is too great to ignore. Even from a distance, however, it is hard to think that after all the blood, sweat, toil and tears that go into … Continue Reading
With the possible exception of most teenagers and all the characters in EastEnders, few people actually relish confrontation. In the workplace this anxiety is compounded by the fear that falling out with a colleague will lead either to an eternity of moody silences and catty remarks, or some Wagnerian undoing in the Employment Tribunal. Little … Continue Reading
so commented the heroine in the classic film-noir flick “Double Jeopardy”. She was found to have been wrongly convicted of killing her husband, not least because he was still very much alive. After hurriedly carrying out some legal research, she discovered that she could not be tried for the same crime twice, and so decided … Continue Reading
Perhaps motivated by continued concerns about the state of the economy, or maybe just by an accident of timing, ACAS http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461 has recently issued a revised version of its Redundancy Handling Guidance . It contains nothing very new for the most part, except a debut reference to the role of the person nominated to tell … Continue Reading
If you make some horrible error in your treatment of an employee, how far can your addressing it swiftly prevent it becoming a constructive dismissal claim? Two quite similar stories in the law reports shed some light on this. In 2010 the Court of Appeal concluded in Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation –v- Buckland that … Continue Reading
Most unlike the UK Government’s proposed policies to cause controversy, I know, but it is fair to say that its recent decision to introduce Tribunal fees from Summer 2013 has really kicked up a storm in the employment teacup. Branded as outrageous, punitive, over-complicated and even unlawful by some, and refreshing, positive, necessary and welcome … Continue Reading
In April 2012 the UK Government introduced reforms allowing unfair dismissal claims to be heard by an Employment Judge sitting alone (rather than with the usual two wing members). The Employment Appeal Tribunal has recently expressed reservations about this change, echoing the thoughts of 62% of the respondents to the Government’s consultation on this proposal. … Continue Reading
Football in Spain is big and never more so than now. In the last four years the Spanish national football team has won no less than three major championships: the European Championship in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. As you can imagine there was an explosion of happiness … Continue Reading
An article on BBC online this week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18876580) trumpets the fact that Marissa Mayer announced that she is 6 months pregnant at the same time that she is launched as the new Yahoo CEO. Is this news? Here in the UK we’ve had the Sex Discrimination Act (now, of course, the Equality Act), since 1975, … Continue Reading
And so it’s that time of year again when we wilt under a barrage of major sporting events. We’ve shouted “We are the Barmy Army, oi!” at the top of our lungs even without knowing what it means and are still wondering whether England will ever win a penalty shoot-out or have a Grand Slam … Continue Reading
Squire Sanders recently co-hosted The Retail Debate: Fight or Flight in Leeds to consider the shape of the UK retail industry in the current economic climate and what the future may hold in the ever-changing retail landscape. A number of key themes emerged from the “People Power” breakout session and it became clear that many … Continue Reading
