Are you someone who walks away from a networking event with 20 random business cards or 5 really useful business cards?…

So, like in many homes this week, the Andy Gray and Richard Keys debacle has caused much debate in our household between my husband (an avid football fan) and myself (a straight-laced employment lawyer). We’ve covered all the ground from what is banter at work where work is a football field, to the complete sanitisation…

by Frances Nash

The sacking of Andy Gray is unlikely to mean the end of this increasingly heated debate, especially so for Mr Gray who has now appointed Lawyers over the termination of his contract. Unacceptable sexism or just…

Ralli are advising hundreds of consumers in relation to a group action for harassment following letters from ACS:Law accusing those individuals of illegal filesharing and copyright infringement.

Ralli have been…

You might have seen that the Government is considering increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from one year to two years.  There is no timetable yet for any decision to be announced and the suggestion has created a stir in the legal and HR press.

I was in judicial mediation in London for an employer client the other week.  This is a service which the Employment Tribunal Service offers as an alternative to the more adversarial claims process.  I am not sure that the Tribunals are actively promoting this service. A research study following the pilot scheme showed that, while judicial mediation was viewed as a successful process, it did not appear to save the Employment Tribunal Service a great deal in time or money.  That may not be a…

It's 3am Thursday morning; the phone rings, it's a message that your office is blazing on fire!



So, if this worst case scenario happens are you confident that your Friday settlements or court appearances will still go ahead? While your titles and Wills may well be stored in a fireproof safe, chances are your files and computers are not. Hopefully your insurance will pay out for replacements, but how long will it take to get the payment and buy all the kit? And when you are not doing…

What are you doing to find your ideal career?  How many hours have you spent searching the internet and scanning job vacancies? 

When considering career options, it is common for people to spend hours searching the internet and scanning job vacancies.  They want to discover a job which they are really suited to and hoping the answer will eventually jump out at them but when will this happen?  Will their ideal job appear tomorrow, next month or next year?  Who…

Much was made in the media last week about this week’s ruling in Germany giving employers the right to enforce specific dress codes on staff. There has been public outrage after the State Labour Court in North Rhine-Westphalia ruled on the case concerning the clothing and general appearance of airport security personnel, appearing to give employers a largely free hand to determine how employees should look and dress at work.



The most newsworthy element of the ruling is that it…

Employers have faced a double whammy in the last 48 hours when it comes to dealing with older workers.



Hot on the heels of Miriam O'Reilly's successful age discrimination and victimisation claim against the BBC, the government has today confirmed it will start phasing out the default retirement age from 1 April 2011 and abolish this by October 2011.



Clearly employers need to take a long hard look at their handling of older workers in response to these two significant…

Employers across Britain breathed a temporary sigh of relief when the High Court ruled last year that employees have no automatic right to work beyond the age of 65.

However, it was made clear by the judge ruling on the case that forcing people to retire at 65 is unsustainable and the Coalition…

Keith Arrowsmith, Intellectual Property and Media Partner at Ralli says:-

"The European Court of Justice published its decision on…

Bankers Bonuses are about to be declared and reports in the press suggest that the coalition government has failed, despite their public announcements to the contrary, to influence the level of bonus payments.



What has changed following the credit crisis is that there are now rules stipulating that a set…

Ralli is working for hundreds of people who have received letters…

Burness Website Review

Website: www.burness.co.uk

Burness is one of Scotland’s premier law firms, acting for commercial and public sector clients across the UK and globally. The firm recently got in touch with a Tweet saying they'd had a website overhaul that they were particularly proud of. We take a look to see if they have good reason.



First…

Bettina Bender writes:

Reports in the Financial Times (4 January 2011) suggest that the Government may be revisiting whether to introduce a fee for employees who wish to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal against their employer. According to statistics published by the Tribunals Service employment…

We thought we'd take a light-hearted look back at some of the more entertaining employment cases that have made the headlines in 2010...

Reality bites

Reality TV programmes have dominated our screens in the last month and this has highlighted the issue that the employment status of hopeful members of the public participating in televised talent shows can be called into question.  This year, a couple of cases have brought this issue to the attention of the…

Bankers’ bonuses are back in the headlines with the bonus season upon us and the million dollar question is whether anything has changed following the credit crisis – will bonus payouts in 2011 be lower than in previous years?



Some commentators have asserted that the UK now has the toughest rules on pay…