Category: Legal Advice for Freelancers

The Government has confirmed that with effect from 6 April 2012 the qualifying period of service required for an employee to present a claim for unfair dismissal would be extended from 1 to 2 years.

You may have seen the recent coverage of Carlos Tevez ‘ refusal to play in Manchester City’s game against Bayern Munich earlier this week. Whilst football clubs and players may seem quite far removed from the usual ‘employee – employer’ relationship the same considerations do still apply.

The face of the UK’s workforce will change dramatically as a result of the Government calling time on the Default Retirement Age. From 1st October, employers will not be able to use the DRA to compulsorily retire employees. As a result, workers will get older and companies will have to review their recruitment policies to ensure they continue to stay within the law.

“You’ve got nothing worth investing in…so I’m out” is one of the scathing put downs frequently voiced on Dragons’ Den as the budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas. So why do so many of the hopefuls leave empty handed, and what is the secret to the success of others Barbara Rigby, Patent Attorney, Dehns explains…

External challenges of a weak economy and lack of banking finance remain constant challenges to family businesses. As a result, most business owners wish to use their management time and cash resources to ensure their business remains competitive in the marketplace.

After the disruption caused by the recent riots, business as usual has resumed for most businesses. However, as the month end approaches, some employers may be facing a potentially costly dilemma – should they go ahead and pay workers for their complete shift, even if the business closed early?

Whilst the Olympic and Paralympic Games present many opportunities for businesses as we approach 2012, there are also pitfalls in the shape of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 (“Olympics Act”).

As the summer holiday season gets underway, employers being advised to avoid the temptation to dip into employees’ email inboxes or listen to their voicemail messages, unless they have good reason as well as the individual’s prior permission to do so.

Divorce lawyers have said that due to the stagnating economy and falling asset values some paying spouses have decided that now is a good time to get divorced as the value of what they have to pay their spouses has decreased Joel Heap, head of DWF’s corporate litigation team in Manchester explains.

With the Bribery Act coming into force on July 1st we spoke to Will Winch, a Solicitor at Mishcon de Reya to get his ten top tips on how to not fall foul of the law

With the issue of Twitter breaching super injunctions & the privacy of actors and footballers being called into question this seems to be a good moment to discuss a much more wide-spread problem which is that the lack of internet privacy means that in just 140 characters you can get yourself fired by your company.

A recent survey by law firm Mishcon de Reya found that 90% of people-based businesses have never considered changing the legal structure of their company; of those that have, 64% have never considered a limited liability partnership (LLP) as an option and 10% admitted that they had never heard of an LLP structure.

With the deadline fast approaching for the Government’s public consultation on resolving workplace disputes, employers are being urged to respond with their views.

It was has been announced that the implementation of the Bribery Act will be delayed while the guidance around the defence of the Act is finalised. We have spoken to Rupert Nevin, partner at the law firm DWF, who explains that this is good news for businesses throughout the country…

“We don’t need a contract, let’s do it on a handshake.” How often have you heard that said? What people really mean is “Contracts are expensive, long-winded documents that no-one understands and I will feel handcuffed to you.”