News
10/11/2011
When providing an employee reference, an employer has a duty of care to ensure that the information given is true, accurate and fair.
10/11/2011
Court Protects Wind Farmer When Board Freezes Him Out
10/11/2011
It may seem self-evident that the partners in a partnership own all the assets and thus own the goodwill.
10/11/2011
A recent case shows the lack of wisdom of undertaking expert work unless you have the necessary expertise.
10/11/2011
Employers are reminded that the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) came into effect on 1 October 2011.
16/09/2011
Club Membership Terms Unfair, Rules High Court
Having good intentions is easy. Seeing them through is another matter altogether. One industry that relies heavily on this lack of correspondence on the part of its clients is the fitness industry. Gyms rely on the fact that many of those who take out a membership with them stop using the facilities regularly after the initial flush of enthusiasm wanes.
1/09/2011
If an employer is ‘proposing to dismiss as redundant’ 20 or more employees at one establishment, within a period of 90 days, the collective consultation provisions of Section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) come into play.
1/09/2011
On 1 October, changes to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (normally called the Construction Act) are due to come into force. These will apply to all relevant contracts entered into from 1 October 2011.
17/08/2011
The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011.
17/08/2011
Licensing
Licensing Appeal - New Evidence Allowed
Supermarket owner Noor Mohammed Khan has lost his appeal against a decision by Coventry Magistrates’ Court, which upheld a decision by the local licensing committee to withdraw his licence to sell alcohol. He claimed that the magistrates had exceeded their authority by allowing the introduction of new evidence that had not been heard at the original review of his licence.
The case began in January 2009, when Coventry City Council applied to the Council’s licensing committee for a review of Mr Khan’s licence on the ground that he had been selling alcohol to under-eighteens. Having heard the evidence, the committee revoked Mr Khan’s licence the following March.
When Mr Khan appealed against that decision, he was faced with further evidence from a Trading Standards officer, who pointed out that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had, in 2008, seized two consignments of spirits that they believed had been acquired without duty being paid. The HMRC officer also gave evidence of a complaint from a local resident that large quantities of alcohol had been delivered to the premises at strange hours, several times a week.
The Magistrates’ Court dismissed the appeal, stating that Mr Khan had breached a fundamental section of the Licensing Act 2003, had a poor understanding of the Act and its objectives, and that the management of the premises was such that there was a real likelihood that crime prevention and the aim of protecting young people would be undermined by his holding a licence.
Permission to proceed with a claim for judicial review was limited to one ground – that the magistrates did not have jurisdiction to consider grounds of complaint other than those that had been raised in the original notice of the 2009 review. When the matter came before the Court of Appeal, counsel for Mr Khan argued that the Magistrates’ Court should not have allowed new evidence to be introduced.
The Court held that an appeal to the magistrates such as this takes the form of a fresh hearing at which the parties are free to adduce whatever evidence they think fit. Furthermore, the fact that the magistrates can make any order that the licensing authority could have made supports the conclusion that they are considering the matter afresh.
The judges stated that the magistrates’ function is to consider the application by reference to the statutory licensing objectives. They are therefore entitled to consider evidence that has come to light since the licensing authority’s decision as well as the evidence that was available when the application for a review was made.
For these reasons, the Court, being satisfied that the magistrates did not exceed their jurisdiction, dismissed Mr Khan’s claim for judicial review.
16/08/2011
European Courts Takes Steps Against Counterfeiters
In a case brought in order to reduce the quantity of counterfeit branded goods sold on online auction sites, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has indicated that the companies running the sites may be found guilty of trade mark violation – leaving them liable for damages to the trade mark owners – if they facilitate the sale of counterfeit or ‘grey’ goods.
8/04/2011
Employers should be aware that new National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will come into force on 1 October 2011. The new rates are as follows:
18/11/2010
A recent ruling in the UK Supreme Court has strengthened the effectiveness of pre-nuptial agreements
15/02/2000
Disability discrimination – reasonable adjustments
15/02/2000
How your business should respond if an employee raises a grievance.
