After having its implementation delayed a number of times, the Bribery Act 2010 (the “Act”) finally came into force on 1 July 2011. Last Friday marked the first prosecution under the new Act but was not what many had been expecting: the bribe in question being for a measly £500. And after much talk and [...]
The recent riots in London, were in some part, coordinated through the use of Twitter and Facebook. The speed, broad reach and accessibility of the social networking sites proved to be a dangerous tool for some individuals inciting violence. Once again, in the transatlantic employment law world, the use of social media has come under [...]
On May 24th 2011, regulations and accompanying interpretive guidance to implement the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 will come into effect in the United States. The main effect of these regulations is to broaden the definition of disability so as to move an employer’s focus from whether or not an employee is disabled [...]
At a recent cross border law conference in Toronto, I was fascinated by the presentation on the meteoric rise of social networking in the workplace. The statistics for Facebook are simply staggering – over 500 million active users, 24 million of whom are in the United States alone. The presentation prompted an interesting discussion on [...]
Bankers’ bonuses are back in the headlines with the bonus season upon us and the million dollar question is whether anything has changed following the credit crisis – will bonus payouts in 2011 be lower than in previous years? Some commentators have asserted that the UK now has the toughest rules on pay although others [...]
Following the court decision to allow journalists permission to tweet from the bail hearing of Wikileak’s founder Julian Assange, this week the Lord Chief Justice has published guidance to deal with applications made in court to permit live communication via social media channels (including Twitter) during the hearing. Whilst journalists in some US states have [...]
Facial hair has, historically, not been looked upon favourably by the courts in situations where employees work in an environment where the highest standard of hygiene is required. In a couple of cases from the late 70s and early 80s, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that employers’ requests of Sikh employees (or prospective Sikh employees) [...]
