Category Archives: employment contracts

29 April 2016: Are Post Termination Restrictions Enforceable? This week the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced has announced a ‘call for evidence’ on whether post-termination restrictions in employment contracts act as a barrier to employment, innovation and entrepreneurship.  … Continue reading →

22 April 2016: Can Employers Unilaterally Change Handbooks If They Contain Contractual Terms? It is generally sensible for employers to expressly state that handbook policies and procedures are non-contractual. By so doing, the employer can change its own policies more easily … Continue reading →

1 April 2016: Post Termination Restrictions and Restraint of Trade Post termination restrictions (limiting an ex-employees right to do business with clients of their old employer or work for a competitor for a period of months after leaving) will only … Continue reading →

29 February 2016: National Living Wage:   Since April 2015 the National Minimum Wage has been: Over 21: £6.70 ph 18-21: £5.30 Under 18: £3.87 Apprentice: £3.30 From the 1st April 2016 the New National Living Wage will add  50p per … Continue reading →

22 January 2016: Substance Abuse at Work: In years gone by, many employers were relaxed about staff smoking in the office, or drinking alcohol at lunchtime. Nowadays, smoking in confined spaces is illegal, and drinking during office hours is generally frowned … Continue reading →

15 January 2016: Reading Staff Email. A snoopers charter?   Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), employers can lawfully monitor staff email if the employer has reasonable grounds to believe that both the sender and the recipient … Continue reading →

8 January 2016: Zero Hours Contracts Zero hours contracts (where there is no certainty that work will be made available to the worker) attracted a lot of criticism in 2015 and steps are now beginning to be taken to restrict them. … Continue reading →

26 May 2015: Zero Hours Contracts: From the 26 May 2015, a new section 27A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 states that any provision of a zero-hours contract that prevents a worker from doing work under another contract is unenforceable. This … Continue reading →

13 February 2015:         The general position is that it takes the agreement of both parties (express or implied) to change a contractual term in an employment contract.   In Norman and others v National Audit Office … Continue reading →

31 October 2014: Consultants providing personal services via limited companies Many consultants set up limited companies to provide services, in order to reduce their tax exposure.   In Halawi v WDFG 2014 reported this week, the Court of Appeal held that … Continue reading →

10 October 2014: Are ‘Self Employed’ consultants really employees? Many organisations engage self-employed consultants to carry out work for them, sometimes over a period of years.   Problems can arise when business wants to dispense with their services, as whatever the … Continue reading →

20 June 2014: What do you do if an employee leaves without working their contractual notice? In Li v First Marine Solutions this month, the EAT held that a clause deducting a month’s pay  for Ms Li’s failure to work … Continue reading →

2 May 2014: As reported widely in the press this week, Ed Milliband and the Labour party plan to reform the law on zero hour contracts, under which employers are not obliged to offer a minimum number of working hours, and … Continue reading →

24 January 2014: Trade Secrets: Most employment contracts cover the obligation to maintain confidentiality and to protect trade secrets, but what can employers do if they think that (ex) employees are in breach?   This was the question faced by … Continue reading →

17 January 2014: Enforcing Post Termination Restrictions: Some employers worry that even if they have post termination restrictions preventing ex staff members from poaching customers, that those restrictions are seldom enforceable.   In East England Schools v Palmer reported this week, … Continue reading →

20 December 2013: Zero Hour Contracts for Santa’s Little Helpers There has been controversy at the North Pole this week with the announcement of government consultation on the regulation of zero hours contracts.   Santa has been unimpressed by the proposal … Continue reading →

22 November 2013: Garden Leave and Post Termination Restrictions: If you have staff in a sales or client-facing roles, you may be worried about them poaching your clients and goodwill if they then leave. There are two main ways of doing … Continue reading →

15 November 2013: If an employee asks to go on a training course, many employers will get staff to sign an agreement to repay all or part of the training cost if they leave within a certain period. Some employers will … Continue reading →

25 October 2013: Zero hours contracts have been in the news recently, with talk by the coalition government of taking steps to regulate them.   In Borrer v Cardinal Security Ltd in the EAT, reported this week, it was held … Continue reading →