Forward Joke And Other e-mails At Your Peril

/in /by

Internet Misuse led to an employee being sacked for gross misconduct after he had already been given notice terminating his employment on the grounds of redundancy.

In the case of Williams v Leeds United Football Club [2015] EWHC 376 Mr Williams was given 12 months notice in accordance with his contract for his employment to end by reason of redundancy.

The Football club then discovered that he had used the club’s e-mail system to forward an e-mail entitled “dirty Leeds” together with pornographic images to a male friend at another football club.

Therefore, the club then dismissed him without notice for gross misconduct.

Mr Williams was not entitled, stated the High Court to his year’s salary, even for the part of the year he had worked, or his redundancy pay.

FATCA Registrations Delay: Important Update

/in /by

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has advised that some individuals are experiencing difficulties in validating Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) registrations, in advance of the 31 May 2015 deadline for reports.

The advice from HMRC is that you should continue to file your FATCA return as soon as possible and it will not seek to apply a late FATCA filing penalty while these online delays continue.

HMRC has further advised that its published guidance is being updated to include a specific reference to these delays being considered a reasonable excuse to avoid penalties for late filing.

FATCA is US legislation aimed at reducing tax evasion by their citizens. It requires financial institutions outside the US to pass information about their US customers to the US tax authorities, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Woman Jailed For Under Declaration Of Inheritance Tax

/in /by

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will not hesitate to bring criminal proceedings when tax evasion is significant, as the recent jailing of a woman who under-declared the Inheritance Tax (IHT) due on her mother’s estate proves.

The executor declared that the value of her late mother’s taxable estate to be approximately £285,000, well under the IHT threshold which is currently set at £325,000. The executor had, however, received substantial cash gifts within the seven years prior to her mother’s death, which should have been included on the IHT returns. The correct value of the taxable estate for IHT purposes exceeded £1.5 million, meaning that the IHT liability on the estate was approximately £500,000.

Pleading guilty to cheating the Exchequer, she was ordered to be jailed for 32 months.

There are a number of ways such evasion can be detected by HMRC.  For example, they operate a tax evasion hotline, they can cross-check values of properties sold against the relevant IHT returns, they can use information gleaned from one tax enquiry to start another and they are sometimes able to ascertain that the way a person lives is not commensurate their disclosed financial means.

Please contact us for expert and professional advice to ensure that you fully meet your responsibilities as an executor.

Holiday Pay Tribunal Decision Appeal

/in /by

British Gas has lodged an appeal against the recent employment tribunal decision in Lock and others v British Gas Trading Ltd and another ET/1900503/12 which found that commission and similar payments should be included in holiday pay.

If you have any concerns about this or other Employment Law issues please call Adams Harrison on 01799 523441 or send us a message using our contact form.

Increased Financial Penalty For Minimum Wage Violation

/in /by

Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 has increased the financial penalty for failure to comply with minimum wage amounts.

If you have any concerns about this or other Employment Law issues please call Adams Harrison on 01799 523441 or send us a message using our contact form.

Requests For Flexible Working

/in /by

From 30th June 2014 the law states that all employees with at least 26 weeks service can request a flexible working pattern.  The obligation on the employer is to consider the request, not necessarily grant it.  However, there are only certain grounds in law upon which a request can be refused.

The consequences of failing to deal appropriately with a request for flexible working can result in an employer being ordered to pay up to £3,712 as compensation to an employee.  

An employee can make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal if the employer:-

  • Fails to deal with their application in a reasonable manner.
  • Fails to notify them of the decision on their application within the decision period.
  • Fails to rely on one of the statutory grounds when refusing their application.
  • Bases its decision on incorrect facts.
  • Treats the application as withdrawn when the grounds entitling the employer to do so do not apply.

If the complaint is upheld, the tribunal must make a declaration to that effect and may make either or both of:

  • An order for reconsideration of the request.
  • A compensatory award to be paid by the employer to the employee, of such amount as the tribunal considers just and equitable, up to the statutory maximum.

Shared Parental Leave

/in /by

The Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) inserts new provisions into Part 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) (Chapter 1B, sections 75E to 75K) to introduce a new entitlement for employees who are parents (whether by birth or adoption), to take shared parental leave (SPL) in the first year of their child’s life or in the first year after their child’s placement for adoption (see The SPL period). The provisions of the CFA 2014 are supported by regulations. Parents will not be obliged to take SPL once the new scheme comes into force. The default position on the birth of a child will be that the 52 weeks of maternity leave  (39 weeks paid) will remain in place for the mother, as well as compulsory maternity leave (www.practicallaw.com/5-200-3103), which applies from the day of the child’s birth. The default position on the adoption of a child will be that the primary adopter will be entitled to 52 weeks of adoption leave (39 weeks paid). Changes will be made to adoption leave and pay to make them similar to the maternity leave and pay regime. Additional paternity leave and pay will not be available in respect of babies whose EWC is on or after 5 April 2015, or for children who are placed for adoption on or after that date (section 125, CFA 2014). Unless parents qualify for and opt into the SPL scheme the only entitlement that the child’s other parent will have will be two weeks’ ordinary paternity leave and pay. However, additional paternity leave and pay will remain in place for parents of children with an EWC before 5 April 2014, and for children placed for adoption before that date. As a result, the system of additional paternity leave and pay will remain in operation until mid-April 2016.

When does SPL come into force?

The SPL Regulations came into force on 1 December 2014 and the scheme for SPL apply where:

  • The expected week of childbirth (EWC) begins on or after 5 April 2015.
  • A child is placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015.

How will the right to take SPL work?

The new scheme will make up to 50 weeks of SPL and 37 weeks of ShPP available for eligible parents to take or share (that is, everything other than the compulsory maternity leave period  or an equivalent two-week period in adoption cases). A mother or primary adopter will be able to end their maternity or adoption leave, or commit to ending it at a future date, and share the untaken leave with the other parent as SPL. This will enable mothers and primary adopters to return to work before the end of their leave without sacrificing the rest of the leave that would otherwise be available to them. SPL can either be taken consecutively or concurrently, as long as the total time taken does not exceed what is jointly available to the couple. It appears that the key to success of the SPL scheme, particularly where both parents are employees and wish to take SPL, will be early discussion of proposals with employers.

Evidence that an employer may request

An employer that receives a notice of entitlement and intention to take SPL may request a copy of the child’s birth certificate or documents notifying the primary adopter that the child was to be placed with them, together with the name and address of the other parent’s employer.

Christmas 2014 Employer Bulletin

/in /by

We are please to bring you our latest Employer News Bulletin. Please click on the image below you download your copy.

Adams Harrison Employment Law News For Employers Dec 2014

Adams Harrison Employment Law News For Employers Dec 2014