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The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR), which implement the EU Agency Workers Directive, came into force on 1 October 2011. Under Regulation 5 of the AWR, agency workers have the right to the same basic terms and conditions of employment as if they had...
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Many people fail to make a will, thus causing problems for surviving family members. However, difficulties can also arise when a person makes several wills, particularly if these contain drafting errors. A recent case concerned a woman who died having...
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The Court of Appeal has overturned the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and ruled that a lap dancer at a London club owned by Peter Stringfellow was not an employee ( Stringfellows Restaurants Ltd. v Quashie ) and was not therefore entitled...
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When an elderly and ill woman was put under continual pressure by her brother-in-law to change her will in favour of his children, whom she rarely saw, her resolve finally cracked and in a bid to have a quiet life, she instructed her lawyers to draw up a new...
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The Court of Appeal has ruled that the established regime whereby applicants for jobs requiring contact with children or vulnerable adults have their entire criminal records disclosed to prospective employers is unlawful and an infringement of the...
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For a will to be valid, one of the conditions imposed by the Wills Act 1837 is that two witnesses must attest the will by signing and acknowledging the signature of the person making it (the ‘testator’) and must do so ‘in each...
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The Government has accepted the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC) for this year’s adult and youth National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates. However, the LPC’s recommendation that the apprentice rate, which applies to...
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Following recent changes to the length of consultation required when making collective redundancies, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (Acas) has published a guide for employers entitled ‘How to manage collective redundancies’...
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Currently, bringing a claim to the Employment Tribunal (ET) is free of charge. From July 2013, this is set to change, however, with the introduction of fees for single claims to the ET as follows: For level 1 claims (i.e. claims for sums due on...
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Many people will have read the recent reports of a 67-year-old lady, Marlene Howes, who was prosecuted for allegedly fraudulently claiming pension tax credits and for allegedly concealing that she had received a £50,000 legacy under her mother’s...
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In dismissing claims for wrongful deductions from pay, brought by local authority employees, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) declined jurisdiction to carry out a comparative evaluation of their jobs on the basis that to perform such a subjective task...
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published two sets of guidance for businesses on how to prevent discrimination and avoid costly legal challenges. ‘The Equality Act: Guidance for Small Business’ explains how the Equality...
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A Surrey-based construction company has been ordered to pay £210,000 in fines and costs after an employee died from injuries he sustained in an explosion on a construction site in central London. Ioan Boboc, 22, suffered burns to 60 per cent of his...
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When an elderly woman left a will that excluded one of her sons, who had been charged with (but not convicted of) several counts of fraud in relation to a business he ran with her other son, the disinherited son claimed that she had lacked the mental...
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A person is disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 if he or she has an impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. If an impairment ceases to have that effect, it is...
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In Timbo v Greenwich Council for Racial Equality , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that the Employment Tribunal (ET) had erred in law in acceding to the respondent’s application to strike out the claimant’s discrimination claims...
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When an executor becomes responsible for administering the estate of a person who has died, he or she is required to gather in the assets of the deceased and to discharge from them any amounts owed by the deceased. A recent news item shows how important it...
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The Government has published a consultation on how its proposed shared parental leave reforms will work in practice . The closing date for submissions is 17 May 2013. In addition, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has published a...
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A former Royal Mail postal worker whose claims of unfair dismissal and victimisation were upheld by the Employment Tribunal (ET) has reached a settlement with his employer for an undisclosed sum in compensation ( Musa v Royal Mail Group Ltd. ). Abdul...
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The Government has announced changes to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill that will enhance the protections available to workers who ‘blow the whistle’ against their employer. Individuals who make a protected disclosure will, once the...
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Provisional statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that the number of people in Britain injured and made unwell at work fell in the year April 2011 to March 2012. Overall, 22,433 major injuries (such as amputations, fractures...
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Following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in four cases concerning religious rights in the workplace, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance to help employers and employees deal with issues surrounding the...
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When an academic who had retired to Cornwall bequeathed the bulk of his estate to charity, the will was opposed by his nephew. The man, a widower, had realised that he needed help and could no longer live alone after a lawnmower disappeared from an...
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In Netjets Management Limted v Central Arbitration Committee , the operator of a fleet of private business jets has failed to convince a judge that it is not obliged to recognise a trade union for the purposes of collective bargaining on the basis that...
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The Government has published the draft Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Amendment) Order 2013 , which makes changes to the rules relating to collective redundancy consultation. Where an employer is proposing to dismiss as...
