Welcome to our April Commercial Client Update, in which we highlight a few recent legal developments which we hope will be of interest.
A major development this month was the implementation of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into force on 6th April. It establishes a new statutory offence of corporate manslaughter, which builds on the responsibilities that employers and organisations already owe to their employees and members of the general public, with regard to the premises they occupy and the activities they carry out. Employers are advised to keep their procedures under review, especially those with direct health and safety implications.
With regards to employment status, the Court of Appeal has handed down its judgment in James v Greenwich Council, which dealt with the employment status of a worker involved in a triangular agency relationship. It upheld the ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal that the agency worker in this case was not the employee of the end user. Nevertheless, it is crucial to clarify the status of any relationship between a worker and your company - if you are unsure, give us a call. Another recent case involving employment status, this time in the case of two directors, is Nesbitt and Nesbitt v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. They applied to the Insolvency Service for redundancy payments but their claims were rejected on the ground that they were not employees within the meaning of section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now overturned this decision.
Moving away from employment law matters, the Office of Fair Trading has announced that it is bringing the first ever criminal prosecutions for ‘cartel offences’ – more colloquially called price-fixing. Charges are being brought against three Lincolnshire businessmen under Section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002, which makes it an offence for individuals dishonestly to agree that businesses will engage in certain types of cartel activity, namely price-fixing, limiting supply or production, market-sharing and bid-rigging. You might also be aware of the national case involving a large number of construction companies.
Finally, a recent decision of the House of Lords may have opened the door for thousands of tenants of offices and other properties originally designed to be used as homes to be given the right to buy their properties. Click here to read more, and remember that you can contact us for advice on all commercial tenancy matters.
Until next time, enjoy the summery weather but remember your umbrella in case the April showers decide to dampen things down!
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
