Archive for the ‘Categories’ Category
By Sarah - Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Yesterday Kraft went before a committee of MPs to explain its u-turn on the decision to keep the Somerdale plant open following its hostile takeover of Cadbury. The vice-president of Kraft said he was “terribly sorry” for closing the plant despite vowing it would not do so before the takeover. He said that Kraft were behind the employees in question and that it had not realised how far down the road Cadbury’s plans were when the takeover went through.
He said to MPs that there would be no further site closures for manufacturing in the UK and that there would be no further compulsory redundancies in manufacturing in the UK in the next two years. The lawyer in me could not help but read between the lines and question the fact that they were quite specific about manufacturing what about office staff and that they could get volunteers at a price or compromise people out of the business under the radar. We will have to see if my scepticism is well founded……. watch this space.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 comment »
Similar Posts:
By Nicky - Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
in the case of Mr Leon - v - Trans Global Freight Management Limited the Respondent’s representative had written to the Claimant on a couple of occasions requesting disclosure of documentation. However, the Claimant failed to respond and the Respondent consequently wrote to the Tribunal requesting a Unless Order.
The Claimant failed to comply with the Unless Order and the Respondent subsequently asked the Tribunal to strike out the claim. Unbeknown to the Respondent, the Claimant had been remanded in police custody for a period of time and had therefore not had access to the correspondence from the Respondent or the Tribunal.
The EAT concluded that a Tribunal should exercise its discretion in considering whether to strike out a claim where a party has failed to comply with a Tribunal Order, especially where the Claimant had been remanded in custody and had been unable to access his mail.
Posted in Employment Tribunal Procedure | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Philip - Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
On a very light employment law news day, it is worth remembering some of the good things about the UK.
With a general election coming up no doubt eggs, rotten fruit and vegetables will be thrown during the course of the campaign. John Prescott if you remember hit back at egg throwers by throwing the odd punch himself, he’s not called “two jabs” for nothing. Lord Mandelson got splattered with green gunge last year by a protester but took it with uncharacteristic good humour very well.
Our politicians take these thrown projectiles with relatively good grace and it is rare for any charges to be pressed. Spare a thought for the rock throwers at last year’s protests at election time in Iran. They have just had their sentences handed down.
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Nicky - Monday, March 15th, 2010
In the case of Mr Jennings - v - H & P Freightway Limited the EAT upheld the Tribunal’s decision that the Claimant’s dismissal was not automatically unfair under section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
In brief the Claimant had been employed for less than 12 month’s as a HGV driver. In November 1998 the Claimant was in Dewsbury when he received a telephone call from his line manager requesting that he pick up a load from Billingham the following morning. The Claimant informed his line manager that he had had a heavy week and he was not likely to be a state to do the job the following morning. The conversation was left with the Claimant’s line manager having given him an instruction to pick a load up the folloiwng morning.
However, the following day the Claimant spent three hours in Hull and returned to Teesside without having picked the load up in Billingham. He refused to return to get the load and was subsequently dismissed for refusing to obey reasonable instructions.
The Claimant, who had less than 12 month’s service, claimed that his dismissal was automatically unfair. He claimed that he refused to collect the load because he had had a busy week and he was tired. He therefore argued that his refusal was on the grounds of health and safety and his subsequent dismissal for refusing to obey an instruction was automatically unfair.
The Tribunal found that the Claimant did not give any evidence to suggest that he believed there was any danger in picking up the load, he was only tired, and he had not exceeded his driving hours. Therefore, the Tribunal found that his refusal to do the job he was instructed to do did not amount to a health and safety risk and his subsequent dismissal was not tyherefore automatically unfair.
Posted in Health and Safety | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Olivia - Monday, March 15th, 2010
The EAT have upheld an appeal in relation to a claim of age discrimination (Renfrewshire Council v Mr B Martin).
Mr Martin (age 63) applied to the Council for the post of pupil support worker and was an elected Councillor at the time of his application. His job application was rejected, on, he alleged, grounds of age.
The relevant law is Regulation 3(1) The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 which provides that an employer discriminates against an employee if, on the grounds of age, they treat him/her less favourably than they would treat another person. Regulation 27 of the Regulations provides that the provisions of the Regulations will not render unlawful any act done in order to comply with a requirement of any statutory provision.
Which takes us on to Section 76 of the Local Government Scotland Act 1973 which provides that a person cannot for so long as he is a member of the local authority be appointed by that authority to any paid office.
At Tribunal the Council therefore submitted that the claim should be struck out on the grounds that it had no reasonable prospects of success. They argued that it was perverse to suggest that a discrimination claim could arise from refusing to consider a person for a post in circumstances where they were prohibited, legally, from employing that person.
The Tribunal found against the Council on a technicality. They said that, in order to get the benefit of Regulation 27, the mental motivation had to be the need to comply with the statutory provision. Since the person responsible for the decision to reject the application did not know Mr Martin was a Councillor, then the need to comply with the statutory prohibition cannot be the mental motivation.
The EAT disagreed and determined that the Tribunal fell into error when looking at the mental motivation of the person responsible for the decision. The EAT determined that a local authority has no mind, and cannot form or hold an intention. It is therefore not relevant, for the purpose of Regulation 27 to ask what was in the mind of the local authority employee. What was relevant was to look at whether the authority would have been acting within its powers. It was plainly necessary for them to reject the application from Mr Martin.
The EAT have therefore struck out Mr Martin’s claim on the grounds it has no reasonable prospects of success.
Posted in Age Discrimination | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Philip - Monday, March 15th, 2010
This news may actually be good news for the England team. Beckham is an England legend. However had he made the England World Cup squad there would be a suspicion that he would be there on past legendary performances rather than current form. Furthermore at 35 he would not start and play a full game, his World Cup role would be limited to coming on as a sub to create chances and goals from set pieces.
His absence opens up the chance to take a player in good form who can start and play the full game. A Beckham less squad would give the team far more options and better balance.
With Ashley Cole and Beckham out, we need to keep Rooney wrapped up in cotton wool between now and his first game in the World Cup, because if he gets injured our World Cup chances would take a severe dent.
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Sarah - Friday, March 12th, 2010
So it looks like all of BA’s contingency planning may have paid off as Unite announce two strike dates. BA have made plans involving other staff to cover striking staff. Of course there are rules against the use of agency staff to cover striking employees but there is little to stop employers re-organising their existing workforce.
Contingency plans are crucial in all businesses for many different reasons from disaster recovery to succession planning. At the end of the day you cannot plan for every eventuality but in many ways BA have had a lot of notice of the potential for distruption. If both sides stay entrenched and the strike proceeds it is likely to have a negative impact on the Company and its future. Let’s hope BA do not join the long list of the casualties from the recession.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 comment »
Similar Posts:
By Practice Administration Team - Friday, March 12th, 2010
Over 500 applied for just 14 jobs as bin men in South Korea recently. Tasks included sprinting with a 20k bag of rice to show endurance and picking up dog poo with tongs ….. don’t think I will be applying anytime soon.
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Practice Administration Team - Friday, March 12th, 2010
Below I have listed the 10 most common passwords used on a PC. Thankfully I have never used anything as obvious - have you? If so, it now may well be the time to change it!!
| The most common passwords |
|
123456
|
|
12345
|
|
123456789
|
|
Password
|
|
iloveyou
|
|
princess
|
|
rockyou
|
|
1234567
|
|
12345678
|
|
abc123
|
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 comment »
Similar Posts:
By Practice Administration Team - Thursday, March 11th, 2010
The following should you make you smile. These are genuine reasons given for car insurance claims …
ENJOY!
1. Taxi trouble
When bad weather caused havoc on the roads of Britain this winter, one AA customer thought it would be safer to call a taxi than drive his own car to the station in snowy conditions. However he probably wished he had not bothered as, ironically, when the taxi pulled up outside his house it skidded and crashed into his parked car.
2. A lovers tiff
One customer had a heated argument with his girlfriend about whether it was safe for her to drive to work in the snow. In the end she stormed off, went on her way and he followed a short while later. Unfortunately, as he approached a set of red traffic lights, he skidded and collided with the rear of the car in front, which in turn hit the car in front of that.
And who happened to be in the third car? None other than the very girlfriend he had advised not to drive earlier that morning. The details do not record whether the claim was settled amicably or not!
3. Good cop car
One customer was surprised to learn his car had helped the police prevent a robbery of a jewellery store in a town some miles away. The thieves had stolen his Land Rover to ram the roller shutter doors of a small shopping arcade where the jewellers was located. However, not content to be an accessory in a robbery (and perhaps a cop car in a former life), the clever car ensured it got caught on the roller shutter, flipped itself onto its back end and wedged itself tightly in the entrance to the store. This meant the thieves were trapped like canned sardines and could do nothing but wait for the police to arrive.
4. Something rather sheepish
Another customer driving home from the pub with a friend had the fright of his life when there was an enormous thump on the roof of his car, which caved in bumping both companions on the head. The pair got out of the car just in time to see a sheep slide down the windscreen, spring on to the car bonnet and run off down the road. The sheep, it later transpired, had escaped from a transporter on the motorway that was involved in a collision.
5. Doggy drivers
When one customer stopped his van on the side of the road to pop into his local shop and buy a newspaper, he did not expect to come out seconds later and find both his van, and the dog inside it, gone without a trace. When he asked bystanders if they had seen anything, one man remarked that he had seen a “large dog driving a van down the road”.
Somehow the dog’s lead had wound itself around the gear lever and had released it. Fortunately, the van was stopped in its descent by another vehicle parked further down the hill.
6. Bad balance
One unlucky lady who was driving through woodland in her open soft-top car received a nasty shock when a squirrel suddenly fell out of a tree above and into her car. In its panic to escape, the squirrel scampered over her in the car causing her to run off the road into a tree. Unwilling to hang around and make a witness statement, the uncoordinated squirrel shot up a nearby tree and vanished.
7. Toilet trouble
One motorist was left rather red faced when, after stopping in the woods late one night to “relieve himself”, he emerged from behind a tree to find his car had gone. In a panic he called the police and his insurer to report the theft and his Dad who came to rescue him. But the night was not over yet!
During the short journey home with his Dad the car managed to break down, forcing them to call for assistance. Later, when father and son poured out the events of the night to the AA Patrolman, he became puzzled by the fact that although the chap was only about 20 feet from his car he did not hear it start up. Acting on a hunch, they all returned to the “scene of the crime” only to find wheel tracks disappearing down a grass bank where his car was waiting patiently at the bottom.
Oh, so that is what the handbrake is for…
8. You snooze, you lose
When one customer parked his camper van on the beach to enjoy the view and a nice nap, he certainly did not expect to wake up to find his feet wet and someone in a boat banging on the window to rescue him. The tide had come in while he was asleep, and although he was safely rescued, the van sank without a trace.
9. Off your trolley
Another unfortunate lady calmly informed AA that her bonnet had been badly damaged after “several airborne shopping trolleys came flying towards her”. The offending trolleys had apparently fallen off the back of a delivery lorry.
10. Two in one
This final story apparently had the AA call centre in stitches. Two drivers tried to turn into a parking space at the same time and got jammed against cars on either side. Stuck fast and unable to open the doors, the fire brigade had to rescue them – while an audience of about a hundred people stood around laughing at them. Luckily they saw the funny side too!
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 comment »
Similar Posts:
Page 1 of 14312345»...Last »
