A monthly checklist from Atom Content Marketing highlighting new and pending laws, regulations, codes of practice and rulings that could have an impact on your business.
Agency businesses should make clear whether their agency workers are provided to clients on a temporary basis or permanently/indefinitely, as the workers’ entitlement to employment rights and conditions can depend on this.
Companies should consider including bad leaver provisions in their articles and/or a shareholders’ agreement, so they can recover sums already paid to a bad leaver for their shares if they are later found to have acted in breach of the agreement and/or their director’s duties, following a recent ruling.
Attorneys considering making gifts from the donor’s estate under their power of attorney should check whether they should apply for the court’s permission before doing so, as attorneys’ rights to make gifts without permission are very limited.
Employers should ensure they take responsibility for their employees’ safety and wellbeing after work-related social events have ended, as well as during them, as they can be vicariously liable for post-event injuries, as a recent case highlights.
Property owners, such as farmers, should take care not to make informal promises to a family member (or anyone else) that they will inherit land or shares in a family company, as they may one day have to deliver on that promise if the relative has relied on it to their detriment.
Employers dealing with allegations of victimisation by an employee with an ulterior motive should ensure they can show the employee’s allegations were also made in bad faith (that the alleged victim did not honestly believe them) – or risk losing the victimisation claim.
Businesses will welcome new EU laws harmonising trade secret laws in all member states. These are aimed at stopping employees and others from acquiring or using their trade secrets without permission, or disclosing them to anyone else.
Directors deciding whether to approve a transfer of shares should consider whether a refusal to approve it may breach their company law duties, and amount to acting in an unfairly prejudicial way to shareholders, a ruling makes clear.
A Northern Irish bakery describing itself as a ‘Christian business’ did not discriminate against a gay customer when it refused his order to decorate a cake with images and slogans that were not illegal, but were against its directors’ religious beliefs, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Employers should resist pressing on with disciplinary hearings when the employee (or their union rep) does not attend if it could be unreasonable to do so, otherwise they risk an unfair dismissal claim.
Disclaimer: These publications from Atom Content Marketing are for general guidance only, for businesses in the United Kingdom governed by the laws of England. Atom Content Marketing, expert contributors and ICAEW (as distributor) disclaim all liability for any errors or omissions.