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.
In-house lawyers should be very careful when communicating internally with other employees about legal issues which could result in legal proceedings, as their communications may not be confidential under the lawyer-client privilege rules, a recent ruling highlights.
Parties negotiating a contract should ensure the contract is comprehensive and clearly and unambiguously expressed, to avoid disputes about its meaning or whether additional terms should be implied into it, a recent case makes clear.
Landowners applying for a final injunction to stop people trespassing on their land should ensure the wording of the order requested is tailored to the particular risks, it is no wider than necessary and is proportionate to the circumstances - or risk it being refused, a High Court ruling makes clear.
UK employers whose employment terms prevent workers from carrying forward the four weeks' holiday they are entitled to under EU law must tell workers about their outstanding holiday entitlement and encourage them to take it, or risk those terms being ineffective following an EU ruling.
Employers considering taking action against a whistleblower should consider whether they may be exposing both themselves and their employees to liability if the whistleblower successfully claims they have been subjected to a detriment because of their whistleblowing, a recent ruling makes clear.
Parties negotiating a contract, particularly where they are working together on more than one project, should ensure work does not start until a final, formal contract is signed. If that's not possible, they should consider agreeing key terms in an interim contract while negotiations on the final contract continue, to avoid uncertainty over whether and which terms apply, following a recent ruling.
Employers should ensure employees are aware of any limits and restrictions on what they may do in the course of their employment, to reduce the risk of any wrongful conduct at work making the employer vicariously liable for the employee's wrongful acts, a recent ruling makes clear.
Businesses which generate and pass work to third party individuals to carry out, treating the individuals as self-employed, should consider whether they are actually 'workers' under UK law and entitled to basic employment law rights, following an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling.
Retailers with hole-in-the-wall ATMs at their premises should consider whether they are entitled to a rates rebate, following a recent Court of Appeal ruling
Employees tempted to access their employer or ex-employer's data without authorisation could face a prison sentence if the ICO decided to prosecute for hacking instead of obtaining data without consent, following a recent case.
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.