Adrian Fryer
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.
Continue ReadingAdrian Fryer
To bring a claim for disability discrimination, an employee must be able to show that they (or someone they are associated with) is disabled. At what point in time is an assessment of disability made? In Ahmed v DWP, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal had erred by assessing whether the Claimant was a disabled person using a three-day date window. The discrimination allegations spanned several years.
Continue ReadingAdrian Fryer
If an employee submits their resignation to their employer, then this is a clear indication that the employment relationship is coming to an end. For whatever reason, the employee is moving on. Unless the employee is resigning because of some historic poor behaviour or discrimination on the part of the employer, the risk of claims is low.
Continue ReadingAdrian Fryer
Sexual harassment can take several different forms. It can refer to unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. This is what most people understand by the term. Under Equality Act 2010, the term also has a wider meaning. It incorporates unwanted conduct which occurs because a person has either rejected or accepted the sexual advances of another.
Continue ReadingAdrian Fryer
Preventing harassment in the workplace is often at the very top of HR’s to do list. Training and policies often focus on key problem areas such as sexual harassment. They don’t often include any reference to ‘smell harassment’. However, according to the Japanese newspaper ‘Mainichi’, there has been an increase (in Japan at least) in ‘smell harassment’ issues in the workplace. The newspaper reports that, as the weather in Tokyo gets hot and humid, the sweaty season has arrived. Employees are taking to social media to complain about the impact that bad smells from their colleagues are having on their working life. One reported feeling ‘dizzy’ because of the body odour of their colleague.
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Partner
Sarah joined Bermans in June 2024 and is a Partner in our Employment team based in Manchester.
Continue ReadingAsset financiers grappling with the threats and opportunities posed by AI may be interested to learn of the impact AI, and in particular the recent developments in generative AI, are likely to have on their interactions with their lawyers and with the court system.
Continue ReadingWe pointed out in an article in the Briefing last summer that the extent to which there should be any regulation of transactions with business customers has been a matter of hot debate in the asset finance industry going back decades, and we recalled that when the Consumer Credit Act 1974 first came into full effect in 1985 there was much discussion about future reforms excluding business customers altogether.
Continue ReadingIn regulated Hire-Purchase and conditional sale (but not Lease or Hire Agreements) section 90 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (“CCA”) provides that once one-third of the total price of the goods has been paid for, the goods become ‘protected’ and the Financier is not entitled to recover possession without a Court Order except where the debtor gives his genuine consent.
Continue ReadingAlex Chapman
It would be remiss of me not to mention that this will be Peter’s last briefing as Editor before he sets off for his well deserved retirement. Peter is a legend of the invoice and asset finance industries and has been associated with Bermans for most of his working life – initially as a barrister in Oriel Chambers in Liverpool when Bermans used his services as an advocate and advisor on so many occasions that he was invited to join us in 1989 as a Solicitor Advocate and Partner. He remained as such until 2013 when he became a Consultant since when he has continued to be an invaluable member of our ABL team.
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