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Trust Matters
“Trust Matters”. These are the bywords of the Charity Commission for its recent report on public trust in charities, issued in July.
Landmark Supreme Court judgment on withdrawing clinically assisted nutrition and hydration
Hempsons acted for the successful CCG and NHS Trust in today's Supreme Court judgment on when an application to Court is needed to withdraw clinically assisted nutrition and hydration
Bawa-Garba: the gross negligence manslaughter story latest
A summary of the Dr Bawa-Garba case so far; Should a Doctor’s Gross Negligence Manslaughter conviction lead to automatic erasure from the GMC Register?
Being Paid to Sleep? Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake
In Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake the Court of Appeal has determined that workers who “sleep in” at their workplace are not entitled to receive national minimum wage for periods when they are asleep. This is because time spent asleep in this way is properly characterised as time when an employee is ‘available for work’ rather than time when they are actually working.
Full Steam Ahead On Changes To The Deprivation Of Liberty Safeguards
The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill was published on 4 July 2018. It aims to give effect, with some changes, to the scheme of Liberty Protection Safeguards recommended in the Law Commission’s Report: Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty (2017).
How to avoid a GMC referral
There is probably nothing anyone can do to entirely eliminate the risk of a GMC referral. Sometimes, it is down to just plain bad luck. It is certainly often nothing to do with your abilities as a doctor, and that’s important to remember if you are unlucky enough to receive the dreaded GMC letter.
GDPR one month on – are you compliant yet?
GDPR day – 25th May 2018 – came and went with a flurry of Privacy Notices and Policies filling our in-boxes but did everyone take stock of their data and their responsibilities or are there thousands of businesses out there who are yet to up-date their systems and processes?
Defendant obtains Summary Judgment in Clinical Negligence Claim: Hewes v West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust & Ors...
In Hewes the Third Defendant (GP) was able to obtain Summary Judgment against the Claimant who had suffered with Cauda Equina Syndrome.
HJ v Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Judgment of Mr Justice Turner from 21 May 2018 in HJ (A Child) v Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2018] EWHC 1227 (QB) was a reminder that the opinion of a single joint expert (SJE) is not binding on the Court.
Employment Newsbrief Summer 2018 now available!
Welcome to the Summer edition of the Hempsons’ Employment Newsbrief, a round-up of some of the hot legal topics in the Employment sector.
GDPR Your questions answered
25 May 2018 marked the introduction of the new General Data Protection Regulation in the UK in the form of the Data Protection Act 2018 and we have been answering many clients’ HR-related questions on the new legislation.
Hincks v Sense Network
It is commonly accepted that when a person applies for a job, they will usually be asked to provide a reference from their previous employer. By the same token, employers are usually willing to provide a reference for an employee leaving their employment and doing so is standard practice.
Reilly v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (2018)
Would it be fair to dismiss an employee if they had failed to disclose a relationship with a person convicted of serious criminal offence (even if this was not necessarily a breach of an express term of the employee’s contract)? This question was addressed by the Supreme Court in the case of Reilly v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (2018) UKSC 16. The Supreme Court also considered the standard approach to the reasonableness of a dismissal, the Burchell test.
Update – Tax changes to termination payments
Back in the 2016 Budget, the government announced that from April 2018, it would “reform and simplify” the taxation of termination payments. Following a technical consultation, the reforms expanded and now aim to "clarify and tighten" (i.e. increase) the taxation of such payments.