Many visitors come to the blog looking for employment law advice. In the current straining financial climate numerous employees are concerned that their job is in jeopardy and that their skills are out-of-date.
If you have been dismissed and your employer followed all the right procedures then the next crucial step will be to get yourself back on the job market. (more…)
Large bonuses paid to executives of loss-making banks are headline news in the UK. The public is up in arms because banks are seen as the most blameworthy institutions in the current financial crisis, while the press regularly reports that banking executives are ‘paying themselves’ large bonuses, despite banking job cuts and a continuing decline in profits.
This week, it is the turn of HSBC to brave public opprobrium, with chief executive Stuart Gulliver pocketing £7.2 million in basic pay and bonuses. However, his bonuses (potentially totalling up to 100% of his salary) were capped at 50% by the HSBC board pay committee, since the bank failed to meet several of its yearly targets, such as return on equity, cost efficiency and compliance. (more…)
A solicitor firm advertising partnership-dissolution services on a billboard is being accused of exploiting vulnerable individuals and encouraging divorce. The firm’s advertisement has given fuel to the debate on whether it should be more difficult to obtain a divorce.
Divorce rates are rising, which has led many to argue that it is too simple to obtain a divorce and that couples lack incentives to work on their marriage. Yet, in the present financial climate some couples may be compelled to stay together. There are those professionals who claim that when there is an economic downturn couples cannot afford to separate as this would involve increased expenses in the form of, for example, legal services and separate households. (more…)
In the past months Tesco and Burger King have pulled out of the colloquially-named ‘work-for-benefits’ scheme. Apart from disparaging press reports, there is a burgeoning campaign throughout social media against this plan to discourage long-term unemployment amongst young people, including the ubiquitous e-petition.
However, Sir Stuart Rose, the former executive chairman of M&S, has defended Workfare and hit back at the negative publicity, saying: “We’re offering young people the opportunity to really understand what the workplace is about and it appears there is some plan to sabotage this, which I think is nonsense”. (more…)
Amid Government figures indicating an increase in the number of men being victims of rape, a charity has for the first time launched an advertising campaign to increase awareness of the issue. The campaign involves adverts which feature on the London underground as the Six Nations rugby tournament is taking place.
The adverts show a picture of a rugby ball with a nail entering it. The image is accompanied by text stating, “Real men get raped and talking about it takes real strength”. The charity launching the campaign, Survivors UK, seeks to help and advise male victims of rape. (more…)
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, is actively seeking to tackle the delays in adoption proceedings. Last year the Prime Minister urged social workers to not take a negative view on interracial adoptions and ensure that more white adopting parents take on children from other ethnic backgrounds.
Currently black children in care are significantly less likely to get adopted compared to a white child and are also more likely to get caught in the system for a longer period of time. (more…)
This week saw the launch of family law arbitration in England and Wales following a drive by the Government to attempt to resolve more divorce cases through alternative dispute resolution. It is hoped that the move will result in faster and more amicable settlements in divorce cases, and will ease the burden on overworked family law courts.
The new scheme will be run by the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators, which is a joint venture partnership between family lawyer groups and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
The anti-capitalist protesters who have lived in a tented city outside St Paul’s Cathedral for several months have lost their legal battle against their eviction. Yesterday, three judges sitting in the Court of Appeal turned down their application for a review of the High court decision, effectively ending the four-month long protest.
Defeat yesterday is likely to set in motion an eviction by bailiffs employed by the City of London Corporation, on whose land the protesters have been camping.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) is urging Germany and the Czech Republic to abolish surgical castration of sex offenders as the practice might be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The countries are the only two in Europe which still occasionally resort to such practices.
According to the German Government the procedure is not considered to be a punishment but a form of treatment as it provides “suffering tied to an abnormal sex drive…to be cured or at least alleviated”. (more…)
Last week a judge at the high court made the rare decision to use the social networking site Facebook to serve a claim. Lower courts have previously resorted to the use of social networking sites to serve suits but such methods have thus far not been resorted to by the higher courts.
British courts may be picking up on a trend that has already started in other parts of the world. Indeed, courts in Australia and New Zealand are known for using social networking sites to serve claims. (more…)
