The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is inviting views on the proposed definitions of those self-employed people who will continue to have duties under health and safety law.
There is a common belief that owners of private land cannot charge the public for parking on their property.
For those who follow the blogs of myself and my colleagues at Dallas McMillan, you will be aware that back in 2017 a new Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band, called the Residential Nil Rate Band (RNRB), was introduced to offset against the Inheritance Tax (IHT) bill being incurred by a rising number of estates on death, fuelled to a significant extent by home ownership and increased house prices.
Dallas McMillan are delighted to announce that their two charity partners for 2019 are the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity and the Good Morning Service.
The most recent Royal Institute Chartered Surveyors Residential Market Survey has suggested that Brexit is playing a role in “subdued market activity”.
Dallas McMillan’s Litigation team has been announced as one of the finalists for the award of Litigation Team Of The Year at the Law Awards Of Scotland 2018.
The award ceremony takes place at the Hilton on Glasgow on 29 November and everyone at the firm has their fingers crossed for team.
Welcome to Dallas McMillan's blog.
The Criminal Finances Act 2017 creates two new offences of corporate failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion (the offences).
A new Bill which is set to change the costs that people pay when going to court could help many more get access to justice. The potential expense of going to court is a significant deterrent for many people looking to pursue legal action in civil courts, even in cases where they have a legitimate and justified claim.
Once again, employment law is in the news following the resignation of Mark Warburton from Rangers. There was initially some confusion regarding events, with Warburton and his team adamant they had not resigned from their position.
The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal had handed down its decision in the much publicised Gay Cake case, more accurate known as Lee v McArthur, McArthur and Ashers Baking Company Ltd. The Court upheld the previous decision of the County Court ruling that Mr Lee was discriminated against after the bakers’ refusal to bake a cake that included the slogan “Support gay marriage”.
According to new medical candour guidelines, midwives, nurses and doctors will be required to make verbal apologies to patients following any medical mistakes.
An English NHS Trust has agreed to pay substantial compensation to the family of a patient who died after receiving substandard care at one of its hospitals, reports the Mirror.
There is unlikely to be a definitive answer any time soon on changes to protective awards which come under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
So we are the start of yet another a new year but I wonder how many of you have made a new year’s resolution and whether this includes finally getting round to making that will or power of attorney you have been thinking about but putting off for so long. After all, we are not all quite as lucky as Sherlock! Or maybe you have been thinking about moving house but have been waiting for the right time.
Whatever your requirements or motivation, be it providing for your loved ones or ensuring that they can help you when needed or moving to that new home you have worked so very hard to achieve, good legal advice can be invaluable.
The right of workers to be accompanied by a companion chosen by the worker, not the employer, has been reinforced by a recent decision by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in the case of Roberts v GB Oils.
In terms of the Employment Rights Act 1999 s10(1) and(2), a worker can “reasonably request” to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing by a companion “chosen by the worker” and satisfying the criteria set out in s10(3). Under s10(3) a worker is entitled to choose to be accompanied by either a Trade Union official who is employed by the TU, or by a TU official not employed by the TU but certified in writing as having relevant experience for these hearings, or by a colleague of the worker.
In Roberts, the employers were held by the EAT to have breached s10 by refusing the worker his choice of s10(3) companion. The employers had argued that they had been entitled to refuse the original companion chosen by the worker in his request to be accompanied, on the basis that the worker’s choice of companion made the request an unreasonable one under s10(1)(b).
The EAT on both cases, however held that an employer cannot use s10(1)(b) to refuse a request as unreasonable simply because the employer does not like the worker’s choice of companion. It held that the worker has freedom of choice of requested companion, as long as the companion satisfies one of the three criteria set out in s10(3). In other words, the issue of overall reasonableness or otherwise of the request to be accompanied (s10(1)(b)) does not involve consideration of the worker’s choice of companion under s10(3).
This is important protection of the worker’s right to choose is companion. It should be noted, however, that if worker deliberately chose a valid but nonetheless clearly unreasonable companion, while he would still technically win a tribunal claim under s10 if this request was refused, the tribunal could reduce the (max 2 weeks’ pay) award to nil on equitable grounds.
The government has published the draft Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2013. The draft regulations reflect the government's response to the consultation on proposed changes to TUPE, which was published in September 2013. In particular, the amendments will allow transferees to collectively consult with transferring employees before the transfer if the transferor agrees. They also provide that post-transfer changes to location can amount to an ETO reason so that redundancies due to a simple change of location will not be automatically unfair.
Dates for the Judicial Review hearings in both Scotland and England have now been fixed. These hearings are to determine the legality of the introduction of fees at the Employment Tribunal. The Court of Session will hear the Scottish challenge on 26th September 2013. The hearing in England will be heard by the Court of Appeal on 22nd and 23rd October 2013.
Last week the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of North v Dumfries and Galloway Council. This has been a long running case with the key question being "who could be considered to be a comparator?" The Supreme Court interestingly upheld the original decision of the Employment Tribunal.
Today (9th July 2013) is the first day of the Judicial Review at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The hearing is expected to last until tomorrow (10th July 2013) with a decision expected shortly after. A similar Judicial Review application is being considered in England although no date has yet been assigned for this hearing.
