Backhouse Solicitors’ blog
In the recent case of British Waterways Board v Smith, Mr Smith was a waterways operative responsible for the maintenance and general upkeep of canals and reservoirs. One of his duties involved being on standby, responding to emergency situations outside of normal working hours. Naturally enough, [...]
The right to be paid wages in full is one of the most basic and oldest employment rights. A failure to pay what is due will generally give a worker the right to bring a claim for unlawful deduction from wages. There are a small number [...]
It may already be a distant memory, but you will of course be aware that following the least accurate set of polling predictions in recent memory the Conservative party were returned to majority Government on May 7th 2015. We therefore thought it appropriate to review the [...]
The European Court recently ruled in favour of the UK Government over controversial redundancy laws, reducing the cost of laying off staff for UK businesses that employ 20 or fewer people. Thousands of former Woolworths workers discovered recently that they will not be entitled to compensation [...]
In the recent case of Metroline Travel Ltd v Stoute, Mr Stoute was dismissed for gross misconduct and claimed that he had suffered disability discrimination as a result of his type 2 diabetes. At first hearing, the employment tribunal decided that Mr Stoute was disabled, as [...]
When we talk about businesses being guilty of “discrimination” we usually mean discrimination against employees. However, if your business provides goods, services or facilities to the general public then it also needs to be aware of the risks of discriminating against customers. This issue was highlighted [...]
The European Court of Justice has ruled that time spent by mobile employees such as plumbers, decorators and carers driving to and from their first and last customer of the day now counts towards the 48-hour working week. This is time which has not previously been [...]
It is a fact of running a business that employees will be off sick from time to time. In this blog we look at the options open to you as an employer when faced with longer term periods of sickness absence - the kind that can [...]
A 2015 survey conducted by Higher Education Degree Datacheck revealed that almost one third of graduates embellished or lied about their academic qualifications on their CV. Here we examine why you should never be “creative” with the truth when it comes to your CV. Trust is [...]
Question – What does Jeremy Clarkson have in common with your local beautician? Leaving aside the endless humorous possibilities, an employment lawyer will tell you that both have restrictions in their contracts of employment known as “restrictive covenants”. Anyone working for a business may have access [...]
