In advance of 1st October, when the remaining provisions of the Equality Act came into force, we prepared a briefing for our clients reminding them of the changes.
In essence, these revolve around the following issues:
The basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination
Improving protection from discrimination for people who have or are associated with someone who has a “protected characteristic”
The new concept of “discrimination arising from disability”
Prohibition from issuing pre-employment health check questionnaires
Pay secrecy clauses becoming unenforceable
The Government is also considering ways to implement a new single public sector equality duty which brings together the existing gender, race and disability duties and extends them to cover age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity and religion or belief.
Three sets of regulations (The Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010) are also reviewed.
If you would like a copy of the full bulletin – which includes a commentary on some of the recent cases, please email me at gdw@royds.com
Friday, 22 October 2010
Monday, 18 October 2010
Government restricts amount of tax relief on pensions by Christopher Hall
The government announced dramatic changes to pensions relief last Thursday, which will be introduced from April 2011. These include:
The annual limit that savers can put into their pensions tax free will be reduced from £225,000 to £50,000 from April 2011, a dramatic 80% decrease. If you want to put more than £50,000 into your pension you need consider taking action before April 2011.
Also the lifetime allowance on money that can be built up in a pension fund and receive tax relief has also fallen from £1.8m to £1.5m, but this will be from April 2012.
The effect will be negative on those that are high pension savers who will be affected by the reduced lifetime allowance. Similarly self- employed individuals are discriminated against as the model works on a regular income and regular pension contributions. Therefore it makes it difficult for those that wish to make a one-off payment to their pension fund.
Please contact Head of Private Client Christopher Hall on cdh@royds.com or 020 7583 2222 for further advice.
The annual limit that savers can put into their pensions tax free will be reduced from £225,000 to £50,000 from April 2011, a dramatic 80% decrease. If you want to put more than £50,000 into your pension you need consider taking action before April 2011.
Also the lifetime allowance on money that can be built up in a pension fund and receive tax relief has also fallen from £1.8m to £1.5m, but this will be from April 2012.
The effect will be negative on those that are high pension savers who will be affected by the reduced lifetime allowance. Similarly self- employed individuals are discriminated against as the model works on a regular income and regular pension contributions. Therefore it makes it difficult for those that wish to make a one-off payment to their pension fund.
Please contact Head of Private Client Christopher Hall on cdh@royds.com or 020 7583 2222 for further advice.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Directors and employees taking confidential information by Richard Woodman
Foxtons is an organisation used to attracting headlines - not always favourable but usually demonstrating its success. However, its latest appearance across the media is firmly in the role of victim. Its unfortunate experience at the hands of a departing senior director is likely to ring the alarm bells with many businesses.
Timothy Hassell left his job as Operations Director after 12 years with the company in order to set up a rival agency. In the months before his departure he assiduously copied large sections of Foxtons' client database.
After starting his new business he emailed numerous of these clients and by the time Foxtons found out what was going on, he had begun signing them up.
Databases of this sort are extremely valuable - perhaps invaluable. Foxtons put the value of theirs at £3 million. Fortunately, there is a wide range of legal protection available and prompt action can ensure that long term damage is kept to the bare minimum. Indeed it seems likely that Foxtons'
legal response will ensure that the only one left regretting his actions will be Mr Hassell.
There are a number of simple measures that businesses can take to ensure that they have done whatever they can to protect their confidential information. Properly drawn contracts are a must as are simple security measures. Employees must be in no doubt as to the information which the business treats as confidential.
But there will always be someone who thinks it is a good idea to get a flying start in a new business or look good to a new employer by hitting the ground running - using the former employers' hard earned information for the purpose. If that happens the Foxtons case demonstrates that the Courts have a range of measures which can be deployed at short notice.
Royds Employment team regularly advises on the protection of confidential information and has frequently obtained injunctions and compensation for clients affected in this way. If you feel this is an issue that your business needs to know more about please contact me at rmw@royds.com
Timothy Hassell left his job as Operations Director after 12 years with the company in order to set up a rival agency. In the months before his departure he assiduously copied large sections of Foxtons' client database.
After starting his new business he emailed numerous of these clients and by the time Foxtons found out what was going on, he had begun signing them up.
Databases of this sort are extremely valuable - perhaps invaluable. Foxtons put the value of theirs at £3 million. Fortunately, there is a wide range of legal protection available and prompt action can ensure that long term damage is kept to the bare minimum. Indeed it seems likely that Foxtons'
legal response will ensure that the only one left regretting his actions will be Mr Hassell.
There are a number of simple measures that businesses can take to ensure that they have done whatever they can to protect their confidential information. Properly drawn contracts are a must as are simple security measures. Employees must be in no doubt as to the information which the business treats as confidential.
But there will always be someone who thinks it is a good idea to get a flying start in a new business or look good to a new employer by hitting the ground running - using the former employers' hard earned information for the purpose. If that happens the Foxtons case demonstrates that the Courts have a range of measures which can be deployed at short notice.
Royds Employment team regularly advises on the protection of confidential information and has frequently obtained injunctions and compensation for clients affected in this way. If you feel this is an issue that your business needs to know more about please contact me at rmw@royds.com
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