Employment Law

George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on October 8 that the government intends on introducing a completely new type of employment contract called owner-employee contracts. This new contract…

Employers should beware of government plans to introduce ‘protected conversations’ to encourage settlement agreements (also known as compromise agreements). The initiative is part of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill,…

The Employment Act 2002 gave employees the right to request flexible working. Employers can turn down specific flexible working requests for legitimate business reasons set out in the legislation. However,…

Employers need to take note of a change to unfair dismissal laws, coming into effect from April 6 2012, which extends the qualifying service period for employees wanting to bring…

Seeing one of your former employees set up a business in direct competition to yours can be a frustrating experience and one that is damaging to your interests. If your…

Last month’s English riots served as a reminder of the huge disruption and upheaval such unforeseen incidents can cause to businesses. The disturbances left many business owners having to make…

A number of changes are coming into force on October 1 2011 when the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is implemented. The regulations are intended to offer better treatment to agency…

Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs have become an excellent new tool for businesses to market their products and services. Many businesses now use social media to…

The Ministry of Justice has recently published new guidance on the procedures commercial organisations should put in place to ensure they fully comply with The Bribery Act 2010, which comes…

This issue has been the subject of much debate in recent days following the very public sacking of Andy Gray by Sky television. Many people view office or workplace banter…

Harrison Drury has recently launched a new service called HR Compass which aims to protect businesses against increased employment claims. Why have we done this? The facts speak for themselves.…

The Equality Act 2010 is arguably the most important piece of employment legislation for many years. It has the express aim of harmonising and strengthening existing equality legislation and its…

All employers should be aware of significant changes to the National Minimum Wage, which took effect on October 1. Businesses that fail to implement the new National Minimum Wage changes…

The Government has announced details of how it is proposing to remove the default retirement age of 65, currently permitted by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. It proposes to…

The Tribunals Service has published its annual statistics for 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. The number of claims submitted by employees has increased 56% from the previous year.…

Employees of businesses across the UK have been unable to attend work due to being stranded abroad. Employers have had to make arrangements at short notice to cover the duties…

Today sees a number of new employment legislation rules come into force. They include: "Fit" rather than "sick" notes New "fit notes" come into use from April 6 2010. The…

Bullying and harassment at work. These terms are often used interchangeably and have been much used in the recent media coverage of the allegations that Gordon Brown has been mistreating…