The utilisation of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) as a way of exiting a business has grown massively in recent times. This is partly due to the considerable tax benefits it can propose for a selling shareholder, but also because of the long-term advantages it can create for the business subject to the sale.
This article summarises EOTs typical structures and highlights some of its key advantages– for both the selling shareholders and the company being sold.
Daniel Stephenson (pictured), joined Bermans in November 2023 and is a Solicitor in our Property team. We spoke to him to learn more about him and his work.
While default interest clauses are standard in most lender agreements, they can constitute a penalty if they are extravagant, exorbitant or oppressive. If a default interest clause amounts to a penalty, then the lender will not be able to recover the default interest.
Employers who wish to avoid the risk of employment claims from departing employees are able to enter into a settlement agreement under which employment claims are settled.
Employees are protected under Equality Act 2010 from being treated less favourably because of a disability (section 13 Equality Act 2010). The disability doesn’t have to be the employee’s disability. It can be the disability of another person. If an employer treats an employee less favourably because of the disability of another person (normally, but not necessarily, someone ‘associated’ with the employee), this will be direct disability discrimination – known as ‘associative discrimination’.
The requirement to travel for a job is usually something that is made clear at the start of employment. Each party knows where they stand. But what happens if an employer’s expectations for employee travel change?
Employers often provide benefits to employees which are not directly administered by the employer themselves. They use third-party providers instead. Private Health Insurance and Company cars are good examples of this. The employer will state in the employment contract that the employee is entitled to the named benefit. The employer will then have a separate commercial agreement with the benefit provider which facilitates this. The employee will not be party to this agreement and will often be entirely unaware of it.
Disclosure is the part of tribunal proceedings where each party — employee and employer — provides the other with a list of all the documents relevant to the issues in the claim. The employment tribunals have adopted the civil court rules in respect of disclosure and inspection of documents. Rule 31.6 of the Civil Procedure Rules requires a party to disclose the documents on which he relies, or which adversely affect his own or another party’s case and those which support any other party’s case.
Employers who need to make only a small number of redundancies must make sure that their consultation process doesn’t end up being a ‘tick box’ exercise.
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