Corporate Governance Reform: World-leading measures or missed opportunity?

Paul Griffin, Amanda Sanders and Johanna Chattle examine the government’s proposals to require companies to publish the ratio of executive to worker pay and give employees a bigger say in their business ‘The proposals include a combination of changes to the Corporate Governance Code, voluntary industry action and secondary legislation.’ On 29 August 2017, the …
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Legal News: Employment update

Mark Kaye rounds up recent case law and developments affecting employers and their advisers ‘Egon is a useful reminder of the need to draft restrictive covenants carefully so as not to fall foul of the restraint-of-trade doctrine.’ Calculation of a week’s pay should include employer pension contributions The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held, in …
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Employment Tribunal Fees: Supreme Court ruling Q&A – what happens now?

Ben Daniel and Louise Singh consider the fallout from the decision to scrap fees for bringing an employment tribunal claim ‘The Supreme Court did not say it will always be unlawful to charge a fee to pursue a claim and it envisaged that a new system could be implemented in future.’ On 26 July 2017, …
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Employee Monitoring: Do employees have the right to a private life at work?

Laura Daniels reviews a recent case on whether monitoring an employee’s personal communications breached his human rights ‘Member states should ensure that an employer’s measures to monitor correspondence and other communications, irrespective of those measures’ extent and duration, are accompanied by sufficient safeguards against abuse.’ The European Court of Human Rights has decided in Barbulescu …
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Vicarious Liability: Employer accountable for wrongdoing by a contractor

A High Court decision has significantly extended the scope of employers’ potential liability for the actions of individuals whom they do not formally employ, explain Kate Bain and Luke Green ‘This judgment extends the potential scope of vicarious liability further than ever before.’ The High Court recently handed down its ruling in Various Claimants v …
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Restrictive Covenants: Spot the difference – restrictions in sale and shareholder agreements

The courts take a markedly different approach to enforcing covenants in sale-and-purchase and investor agreements compared to those in employment contracts, reports Sam Whitaker ‘Generally, the courts treat restrictive covenants in sale-and-purchase agreements (SPAs) more favourably than those in employment contracts. This is because they assume the parties have equal bargaining power.’ Restrictive covenants in …
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Grievances: Confidentiality issues in workplace investigations

Colin Godfrey and Michael Chattle share their tips on how to manage the competing rights to privacy of employees who bring a grievance, colleagues they make an allegation against and witnesses ‘When the employer decides that someone needs to know about a grievance, it should carefully consider how much detail that person needs to know.’ …
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