Commercial update January 2009

Commercial Client Update - January 2009
January 2009 
Welcome to our January 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)
Andrea Gibbons (andrea.gibbons@fieldingsporter.co.uk)
John Webster (john.webster@fieldingsporter.co.uk)
David Porter (david.porter@fieldingsporter.co.uk)
Daniella Stefani (Daniella.stefani@fieldingsporter.co.uk)
Ifath Khan (ifath.khan@fieldingsporter.co.uk)
Catherine Smith (catherine.smith@fieldingsporter.co.uk)

Your Commercial Team
Fieldings Porter

Welcome to the first issue of 2009 of our Commercial Client Newsletter. As always we aim to keep you up-to-date with a monthly round up of news.

So, the base rate is at 1.5%, the lowest level since the Bank of England's inception in 1694. Perhaps this will be the stimulus the economy needs to pick up, or, is it just a stopping off point on the way to zero per cent interest rate?

Now on to this month's news from the legal arena.

Legal News
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a ‘ten point plan’ for businesses for protecting the health and safety of workers and others. It might be worth checking out the summary of the ten points on our website.

It's never easy when staff leave your business. But one thing you must do is protect your business and have in place safeguards to protect sensitive information relating to the business, to prevent it from falling into the hands of a competitor. We can help with drafting binding "post-termination restrictive covenants".

Every day the press seems to cover yet another business in trouble, hopefully your business or employer is well set to ride through the current economic climate. However, employers should be aware of the potentially serious financial consequences of failing to consult correctly if proposing to make redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is to be given stronger powers according to a recent announcement. The ICO’s new powers will include those of imposing fines on organisations for deliberate or reckless loss of data. Perhaps that will stop the government continuing to lose our data!

And finally, the Fun Bit at the End
No jokes or weird & wonderful websites this month. Instead we have something to exercise your post-Christmas festivities brain. A little legal crossword. Nothing too taxing. Fill in the crossword on our website (NOTE THIS LINK GOES TO A PLAIN SITE, YOURS WILL BE ON YOUR WEBSITE).

HSE 10 Point Health and Safety Compliance Plan

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a ‘ten point plan’ for businesses for protecting the health and safety of workers and others. The key recommended actions are: Register a new business with the... read more ...

Protecting Your Business Interests

When an employee leaves to go to work for another organisation, their employer may wish to have in place safeguards to protect sensitive information relating to the business, to prevent it from falling into the hands of a competitor. ... read more ...

Collective Redundancy Consultation

Employers should be aware of the potentially serious financial consequences of failing to consult when making collective redundancies. If an employer is proposing to make redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a... read more ...

Information Commissioner to get New Powers

The Information Commissioner’s Office is to be given stronger powers according to a recent announcement . The ICO’s new powers will include those of imposing monetary penalties on organisations for deliberate or reckless loss of data, being able... read more ...