Category: Employment contracts

In a recent case between FKJ (The Claimant) and RVT (Defendant), the case highlighted that parties need to consider how they approach obtaining evidence in support of their case and also how they handled the information once it was obtained, as without proper care/advice, it is possible to make an already litigious situation worse. The claimant was a solicitor that qualified in 2017 and commenced work for the Defendants in that same year. On 21 December 2017, the Claimant was dismissed by the Defendants for falsifying a timesheet. The Claimant…

If an employee claims unfair dismissal, as the employer, you must show that you had a potentially fair reason for dismissing them and that you acted reasonably in all the circumstances in dismissing the employee for that reason. Under s.98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the potentially fair reasons for dismissal are capability; conduct; redundancy; contravention of a statutory duty or restriction; or, if none of these apply, “some other substantial reason” which would justify the dismissal of an employee. Even where a dismissal is potentially fair for “some…

Lack of capability, including when assessed with reference to health, is a potentially fair reason for dismissal under s.98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. As an employer, you must show that you acted reasonably both in treating the long-term ill health as a sufficient reason for dismissing the employee and in the procedure adopted to effect the dismissal. When you are considering dismissing an employee on grounds of long-term ill health, you should investigate the prospects of the employee being able to return to work within a reasonable time…

This is a question we are asked all of the time! Ultimately, this is a basic maths question and if you want to find out what holiday a part time worker is entitled to, the first thing that you need to be able to work out is the % of their hours versus a full time worker. So, if someone is working 20 hours a week and your full time working hours are 37.5 hours per week, its 20/37.5 * 100  = their pro rata % which in this case…

Yes you can, as long as you have made it clear that the offer of employment was “conditional” to them having a DBS check that you deem to be satisfactory. This really depends on how your offer of employment is made to your prospective employee, and one of the key reasons we suggest a formal offer letter is used when making an offer of employment. However, you should only request information about an applicant’s criminal convictions if the information can be justified in terms of the role being offered. If…

It’s hard to believe that prior to 2015, major restaurant chains were deducting an administration fee from staff tips made by card – in some cases this was a high as 8%. As a huge 80% of all UK tipping now happens by card payment (rather than cash) the Government have suggested that businesses are less likely to pass tips onto staff. The Allocation of Tips Bill has been in talks for a long time and is yet to be announced however, in January 2023, the bill was listed as…