So you have identified your individual contractor and you want to agree terms of engagement with his personal services company which give you the best possible chance of avoiding direct liability under IR35 when it changes in 2020. Here are some preliminary tips:… Continue Reading
The proposed extension of IR35 in April 2020 will make private sector businesses liable to deduct tax on payments to individual contractors operating through personal service companies if the individual would be deemed their employee if it were not for the PSC.… Continue Reading
Why are we starting to talk now about a change in tax laws which won’t apply until April 2020? Because what you do now can materially alter how big a bite HMRC takes out of your business when we get there.… Continue Reading
In May 2015 the Employment Rights Act was amended to include at Section 27A a provision which made unenforceable any requirement in a zero hours (ZH) contract that the worker could not work elsewhere or could do so only with the employer’s consent. But so what, really? Since many ZH staff are not employees, and … Continue Reading
HMRC issued a consultation document on 17 July 2015 to explore options for tightening up IR35, the intermediaries legislation that aims to tackle tax avoidance through disguised employment. IR35 requires individuals working through an intermediary (e.g. a personal service company (PSC)) to pay broadly the same tax and NICs as any other employee, where they … Continue Reading
Earlier this spring the Polish Supreme Court decided that a company taking over a business is not bound by the non-competition covenant entered into by the previous employer. Normally you would expect the incoming employer to want the covenant to remain in force. However, to enforce a post-termination non-competition clause in Poland requires the employer … Continue Reading
The long-awaited decision of the Leicester Employment Tribunal in Lock -v- British Gas was issued yesterday. It confirmed, as everyone knew, that holiday pay would have to include an element in respect of commissions, but it also provides for the first time a steer (using the word advisedly, for it is actually no more than … Continue Reading
As we’ve reported here and here, recent decisions from the US Supreme Court, federal appellate courts, and more recently, even the California Supreme Court (see here) have clarified that class and collective action waivers in arbitration agreements, including those that waive employees’ right to bring a claim under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) … Continue Reading
