| Welcome to our August 2009 newsletter. We hope it is of interest to you. Please do contact us to assist you. We'll try our very best! Regards, Ed Nally (ed.nally@fieldingsporter.co.uk) Your Commercial Team Fieldings Porter |
This month, we are majoring on Swine flu. What are you doing to mitigate the risks posed to your business?
By the end of August it is reckoned 100,000 people could have contracted the virus and 12% of employees could be taking time off work as a result. In a nutshell, your business simply has to be prepared because economists are talking about a cost to the UK economy of £50billion.
Have you put your plan into action yet? If not, start with containing the spread of infection in your workplace; and ensure employees are encouraged to stay at home should they experience symptoms. Carve a clear channel of communication between management and staff and get a business survival plan in place that takes account of high level, long term sickness absence.
If possible, make working from home and flexible working available to employees and crucially, get the technology in place to cope with these things. There is much to do and some of your tasks are going to involve checking and possibly updating policies and procedures; make sure this is done properly so as to avoid potential problems. If in doubt, don’t delay in asking us for advice: it could save you time and money in the long run.
For more information on Swine Flu, visit http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177831 or take a look at the Government’s Business Checklist for employers.
Now on to this month's Firm news and reports from the legal world.
Legal News
More information on Swine Flu courtesy of the comprehensive article on our website this month which will be of great interest to business owners worried about the effects of the pandemic on productivity and profitability. The article looks at the potential implications from a variety of angles and offers useful advice on avoiding problems and minimising the impact of the virus in the workplace by putting safeguards in place before an outbreak occurs.
New National Minimum Wage rates have been announced and these will apply from 1 October 2009. Make sure you keep up to date by reading the article on our website this month which explains the new rates for workers in all age groups. If you need advice on any employment law related issues, including the minimum wage, contact us.
Company directors have recently been given a warning to remember that responsibility for the accuracy of their company’s accounts lies with them, rather than with their auditors. In a recent case, a director brought action against his auditors when his company failed after a bank loan was guaranteed based on overstated profits. The court, however, decided the director must have known his company was trading at a loss and in any case, the auditors owed no duty of care to the director as they did not participate in negotiating the loan. The full story is on our website this month.
What do you do if you find out someone is using your copyright material without permission? There are various degrees of action that can be taken, starting from a well-worded legal letter. It is important to take steps to protect your copyright material in the first place; if you have employees or contractors producing material for you, ensure you have clear terms set down as to its ownership. There is a useful article on our website this month covering the subject, but if you have any specific queries or need tailored advice on the subject, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Legal News by RSS
RSS is a method by which the legal news from our website can be syndicated into your business. If you have an intranet you could have a free legal news feed available to all your employees. If you would like more information on this, please get in contact and we will make the arrangements.
Funnny Bit at the End
One of the things that the Internet has allowed in recent times is the lone-voice of a consumer to be heard more loudly than was ever possible before. You may have heard recently about the musician in the USA who complained to United Airlines without success about breaking his guitar. So he and his band recorded a song and put it on YouTube and iTunes. Many analysts believe the song was so popular it was credited with causing a 10% drop in the United Airlines stock price. If you've not watched the video, it's VERY funny, so check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
