The national minimum wage is to increase to £6.70 an hour for all workers over 21. The increase represents a 20p increase, the biggest rise in seven years.
The move, which was announced by the government in The Budget is expected to benefit 1.3 million workers, with the 3% rise affecting the lowest paid in the UK. The rise is expected to come into place from October.
We would be delighted if you could join us at our next “Ask the Expert” employment law seminar, which is being held at 29, Royal Exchange Square on Friday 27th March 2015. As always, the seminar will be jointly hosted with Syme Drummond, recruitment specialists.
This time round, we will be looking at the legislative changes taking effect in April, with particular focus on the new Shared Parental Leave scheme coming into force on 5th April. Additionally, we will provide an updated overview of recent developments in the holiday pay cases that have caused difficulties for so many employers recently.
We would be delighted if you could join us at our next “Ask the Expert” employment law seminar, which is being held at 29, Royal Exchange Square on Friday 27th March 2015. As always, the seminar will be jointly hosted with Syme Drummond, recruitment specialists.
This time round, we will be looking at the legislative changes taking effect in April, with particular focus on the new Shared Parental Leave scheme coming into force on 5th April. Additionally, we will provide an updated overview of recent developments in the holiday pay cases that have caused difficulties for so many employers recently.
Members of our employment team will be on hand to also provide their practical views and opinions on the matters raised by you, so please do let us know in advance of any other topics you would like us to cover during the seminar.
Following our previous blog on the claims faced by Sports Direct from workers on zero hours contracts, the Government has announced measures planned to tackle attempts to avoid the planned exclusivity ban.
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill – which is still progressing through Parliament – contains proposed provisions which mean that employers could not require workers on zero hours contracts to work exclusively for them. The Government launched a consultation in August 2014 amid concerns that employers may seek to find ways to avoid this ban on exclusivity clauses. Of those who responded to the consultation, 46% thought this would be ‘very likely’ to happen and 37% thought it ‘likely’. The main ways it was considered this might be done were guaranteeing a small number of hours each week, such as a ‘one hour’ contract, or by restricting or refusing work to those who take up new jobs or are not always available.
We would be delighted if you could join us at our next “Ask the Expert” employment law seminar, which is being held at 29, Royal Exchange Square on Friday 27th March 2015. As always, the seminar will be jointly hosted with Syme Drummond, recruitment specialists.
This time round, we will be looking at the legislative changes taking effect in April, with particular focus on the new Shared Parental Leave scheme coming into force on 5th April. Additionally, we will provide an updated overview of recent developments in the holiday pay cases that have caused difficulties for so many employers recently.
Central Law Training Scotland with the University of Strathclyde recently hosted a Scots Law Convention Series conference in the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on the 9th and 10th of March. The Convention Series is the most prestigious training, networking and exhibition series of events in the Scottish legal calendar with almost 3500 members of the legal profession attending the 6 Conventions held since May 2013.
Marie Macdonald, head of the employment team at Miller Samuel spoke at the Employment Law day on the 10th of March with her topic entitled, ‘When I’m sixty four – age discrimination – where are we?’
Following recent headaches caused by European court decisions on calculations of holiday pay, there is potential good news for employers regarding their obligations in collective redundancy situations.
In the UK, under the terms of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, employers have an obligation to collectively consult employee representatives where they propose to make redundant “20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less”.
We would be delighted if you could join us at our next “Ask the Expert” employment law seminar, which is being held at 29, Royal Exchange Square on Friday 27th March 2015. As always, the seminar will be jointly hosted with Syme Drummond, recruitment specialists.
This time round, we will be looking at the legislative changes taking effect in April, with particular focus on the new Shared Parental Leave scheme coming into force on 5th April. Additionally, we will provide an updated overview of recent developments in the holiday pay cases that have caused difficulties for so many employers recently.
Members of our employment team will be on hand to also provide their practical views and opinions on the matters raised by you, so please do let us know in advance of any other topics you would like us to cover during the seminar.
Sports Direct are facing a claim from nearly 300 workers after it was revealed that their zero hour contract status made them exempt from the company’s bonus scheme.
The Sports Direct bonus scheme granted almost 2,000 full time employees £160 million worth of shares, but excluded the bonus offer to those working for the company on zero hour contracts.
The initial claim against Sports Direct, which was launched by 30 employees working on zero hour contracts, was thought to be worth £1 million, with the highest individual claim, of over £100,000, coming from an individual who had worked for the company for over five and a half years.
From 1st April 2015 there will be a new tax system in place applicable to all land and property transactions in Scotland, known as the land and building transaction tax (“LBTT”). This will replace the current system in Scotland, Stamp duty land tax (“SDLT”). This article will focus on the aims of the new tax system and how the LBTT regime will work, with a particular focus on the potential implications from a commercial property standpoint, both in relation to commercial purchases and commercial leases.