Employers dealing with an employee with a potentially progressive impairment, which does not have a substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities, should avoid discriminating against them by assuming the impairment is likely to develop in future so it does affect their ability - as this may amount to disability discrimination by perception.
Employers should ensure they have an appropriate diversity policy and disciplinary procedures in place, and all staff are aware of them and the consequences of failure to comply, otherwise they risk being vicariously liable for acts of race discrimination by employees.
Landlords deciding whether to repair or replace items at let properties should take advice on whether they are entitled to choose which route to take, or risk being unable to recover the costs of the work from tenants through the service charges.
Organisations considering covert monitoring of staff should ensure they can show a fair balance between their rights and those of their staff, or risk breaching their employees' rights to privacy under human rights law.
Employers must provide employees with one rest period of at least 20 minutes in every six-hour period of work, no matter how many opportunities there are for rest periods of under 20 minutes - or risk breaching working time rules.
Parties negotiating contracts should be aware that emails can create a legally binding contract, so should take care to ensure that they specifically state in any email correspondence whether or not emails are 'subject to contract', a ruling makes clear.
Owners of registered trademarks should ensure that the graphical representation and any description of colours used in relation to their products in their registrations are clear, precise, unambiguous and uniform, or risk the registration being declared invalid.
Partners in partnership in England & Wales should ensure that they have internal systems and procedures setting out who can bind the partnership, and in what respects, to reduce the risk of individual partners binding the partnership to contracts they have no authority to enter into.
People working with someone else on a copyright work, such as a screenplay, can only claim joint authorship if their contribution is made at the time the work is created, amounts to joint intellectual creation of the work with the other person, and is more than mere feedback or useful suggestions, a ruling makes clear.
Employers can be confident that an employee's refusal to work in breach of their contract, in response to a dispute or grievance, amounts to misconduct and the employer can take disciplinary action.