The Ministry of Justice has announced that Employment Tribunal fees will be introduced on 29 July this year. From that date, subject to the necessary Parliamentary approval, employees wishing to bring a claim to a tribunal will have to pay fees on a sliding scale depending on the nature of the claim and the number
Non-competition covenants can be a helpful way to protect your business by restricting an employee’s ability to set up a rival company and poach some of your customers. They have to be drawn up with great care, however: if the restrictions are not tight enough they may not be effective; but if they are too
The economic downturn has made both landlords and tenants extra keen to minimise potential losses when leases come to an end. A recent case in the High Court involved a dispute over the condition of a set of roof lights on a single-storey warehouse. The lease had required that the tenant should “keep the whole
The number of FTSE 350 firms signing up to the prompt payment code (PPC) has tripled in the last six months. Business Minister Michael Fallon wrote to businesses in November 2012 asking them to sign up to the code which requires large firms to pay small firms promptly. Mr Fallon said that firms that failed
The Government has amended company law in an attempt to increase the number of firms offering direct employee ownership schemes. UK employee owned companies have a turnover of £30bn a year and employ more than 130,000 people. Ministers say these firms are more productive, profitable and more resilient to economic shocks than other businesses. The
A new code designed to prevent local authorities making unnecessary health and safety checks on low risk businesses came into effect on 29 May. The Health and Safety Executive’s statutory National Enforcement Code for local authorities will instead shift the emphasis to a more targeted approach. Councils will now be required to concentrate on higher
Employment minister Jo Swinson has referred 100 companies to HM Revenue & Customs for allegedly breaching minimum wage regulations by employing unpaid interns. Internships, which encourage young people to work for nothing to gain experience, have become more common in recent years but they remain controversial. Ms Swinson was given the names of the 100
The Government has made significant concessions on its ‘shares for employment rights’ scheme in order to get it through the House of Lords. The scheme, in which employees give up some employment rights in return for shares in the company they work for, has met with strong opposition from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Letting agents are to be regulated to protect both tenants and landlords against unfair practices. Housing Minister Mark Prisk has promised legislation that will raise standards across the industry. His proposal will oblige letting and managing agents, and agents involved in leasehold management, to offer tenants and landlords access to an approved redress scheme. It’s
A council has been ordered to compensate the owners of an amusement arcade which lost business when a seaside pier was closed for safety reasons. The case arose after the arcade owners became concerned about the structural integrity of the pier and commissioned a survey. It then provided a copy of the survey to the