Articles by ‘Richard White’

Two important employment law changes came into force over the Easter weekend.

It’s the norm for office workers to be based in open plan offices, often in close proximity to fellow employees. To deal with the inevitable grumbles and occasional tensions, employers often have policies relating to loud chit-chat, eating hot food at desks, and many provide break-out facilities. But what about employees who use their desk or place of work to put on make-up or perfume or aerosol-based products? Could this have an adverse affect on those with allergies? And what of dissemination in the air of potentially alcohol based products to co-workers?

Many contracts of employment aim to stop departing employees from poaching customers and key staff. Such restrictions are legally allowed, providing that they are necessary to protect the business and do not unfairly restrict the ex-employee. With these restrictions employee and employer usually know where they stand… at least they did until fairly recently.

The recent case of Jackson Lloyd and Mears Group v Smith is a reminder that it isn’t always safe to assume that TUPE doesn’t apply to share transfers.

The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in McMillan v Airedale NHS Foundation Trust shows that employers can’t increase disciplinary sanctions on appeal, unless their disciplinary policy says otherwise.

RWK Goodman employment law experts bring you an update on the legal case where the European Court of Justice was being asked to assess whether holiday pay must now contain rolled-up commission payments to compensate for the employee’s inability to earn commission during the period of leave.

RWK Goodman Employment experts analyse employers’ position when it comes to claims arising after post-TUPE ‘harmonisation’.

Large numbers of workers and employees receive basic pay and commission on sales in their pay packets. Many such workers have employment contracts which state that their holiday pay will be calculated on the basis of their basic pay alone. For many years this was the accepted legal position, based on a Court of Appeal case in 2003 (Evans v Malley Organisation Ltd).

Employers tend to assume that discretionary payments are, well, discretionary. What some employers do not realise is that it may be possible for discretionary payments to become implied into an employee’s contract by way…

Downsizing a company is a difficult and often complicated process that can consume a large amount of management time.