Archive: March, 2017

One legal issue that rarely gets mentioned is what happens if a company decides to re-locate. Many contracts of employment include mobility clauses which effectively force employees to move, leave or face dismissal. While these clauses are perfectly legal, should an employee choose to leave as a result of the move it may not just be a simple case of dismissal or dealing with a resignation, and if an employee flatly refuses to move, you may have to acknowledge they’re redundant and pay redundancy or you may find yourself at the wrong end of an unfair dismissal claim.

The law is forever being changed and amended so it often helps to know what’s likely to happen in the year ahead so as a business you can make plans and contingencies. Here are a few “red letter dates” for your diary.

The results of a recent case which is the first such conviction under the new laws have led the Competition and Markets Authority to issue new rules and guidelines for company directors. A director of an online company agreed not to act as a director of any UK company for 5 years after his company was found to have been part of an online price-fixing cartel.

Although the General Data Protection Regulation comes into force on 25 May 2018, businesses should really look at their processes and procedures now, because the GDPR will create a major shift in how all organisations handle personal data.

Thinking of buying a business? There may be more to consider nowadays than you might think; due diligence is vital when it comes to deciding whether or not to go ahead with an acquisition, it helps a the potential buyer to decide if the price is right or fair, or if there is any specific risk that can be identified which can be covered by specific indemnity clauses in the sale and purchase agreement and even whether to proceed or not, as previously stated.

So the New Year is a few months old and you’ve decided to start up on your own, good for you! Whatever you decide you want to do, though there are certain things you should never ignore or overlook if you want to succeed.

As the new legislative year begins, here are a few pointers to what employers and employees can expect to see in the New Year as regards employment laws and laws that may impact businesses and employers in general. Firstly, pay disparity, the Gender Pay Gap Reporting regulations  that we blogged about last year, although the regulations are still in draft form the deadline for the first report is expected to be 4 April 2018 based on pay and bonus data from 2016/17.