In unfair dismissal cases, both the compensatory and basic awards can be reduced by the tribunal, potentially to zero, based on the employee’s conduct before dismissal. Secret recordings of meetings by an employee can be admissible evidence in cases if the tribunal thinks it is relevant. However, secretly recording a meeting might amount to misconduct, depending on the employer’s rules.
Harassment has been in the legal news again this month.
Anthony harasses Belinda if he does something in relation to a protected characteristic (race, sex etc) which has the purpose or effect of violating Belinda’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her. The connection between the protected characteristic and the conduct is key. The burden of proof – who must prove what – is important in discrimination cases too. If an employee can prove facts from which, in the absence of another explanation, a tribunal could conclude harassment has occurred, then the burden of proof shifts to the employer to show that it did not happen. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has looked at both these issues in Raj v Capita Business Services.
Continue ReadingIf you are a business who has a turnover £10.2 million and have over 50 employees then the rule changes will affect you.
You will need to carry out determination status checks on your Contractors to assess whether they fall within or outside the IR35 rules. From a commercial point of view you may also need to change the way you take on Contractors so as to ensure it remains cost effective.
Continue ReadingWhen is it okay to be out of time?
It is not unusual for parties and their legal advisers to agree, despite time limits set out in legislation, to disregard these time limits to give them an opportunity to try and agree their dispute without court proceedings. If they manage to do so they save significant sums on court fees and other associated costs of bringing the claim. If they don’t settle their dispute, they still have the option to pursue their claim, even if the time limits set out in the legislation has expired. Such agreements are referred to as ‘Standstill Agreements’.
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Article by Guy Kilty, Founder of Dap Dip podcast production and experienced journalist, broadcaster & podcaster.
As you may have heard, podcasts are booming.
The number of people in the UK listening to them every week has doubled to six million over the last five years, and it’s not going to stop there.
Globally, listener numbers are forecast to grow more than six-fold over the next four years to more than 1.8 billion, on top of all that, the rise in popularity of branded podcasts – those that are backed by companies – has been marked.
Continue ReadingBermans have recently appointed two new recruits in their employment and property departments in line with plans to build on their presence in these areas in Manchester.
Continue ReadingIn recent years, two popular topics of conversation have been the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the blockchain. The GDPR is legislation which provides new protection for individuals in relation to their personal data. The blockchain is a variant of distributed ledger technology, which some people believe will create new business models, cut costs, and provide new ways of verifying identity.
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Andrew Koffman
We shared this article in February 2017 and then this article in July 2017, which explained the current rules on recovery of costs by the winner of a court action from the loser. It had been proposed to introduce a “fixed recoverable costs” regime for business and other civil disputes, similar to the one for minor personal injury claims.
Two years on, what if anything has changed?
Continue ReadingAndrew Koffman
The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 left 72 people dead, many injured and hundreds homeless and shone a spotlight on the construction of high-rise apartments. It was quickly concluded that the Aluminium Composite Material (ACM), that was used to clad the building, was the reason why the fire spread so rapidly and extensively.
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AssociateSophie joined Bermans in 2019 and is an Associate in our Liverpool Employment team.
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