Blog
From garage to unicorn – Employment law lessons for scaling tech teams
Catherine Bourne
14 December 2017
Maternity Action report finds ‘unfair redundancies are forcing new mothers out of work’ – is it time for legislative change?
Maternity Action is the UK’s leading maternity rights charity. They have recently released an important report entitled Unfair Redundancies During Pregnancy, Maternity Leave and Return to Work, as part of their campaign to end unfair redundancies for pregnant women and new mothers.
13 December 2017
When is a data controller liable for the criminal acts of a rogue employee?
The acquisition from organisations of large databases of personal data by external parties (usually hackers) is an increasingly modern phenomenon – think Ashley Madison, PlayStation, TalkTalk. Less common, and perhaps of greater concern for employers, is the ‘inside job’ where a trusted employee is responsible for a major breach of data security. The High Court case of Various Claimants v Wm Morrisons Supermarket PLC [2017] EWHC 3113 (QB) has shown that a data controller can be held vicariously liable for the misuse of date by one of its employees even where it has done everything it reasonably can do to prevent such a breach.
28 November 2017
Fair investigation of sexual harassment claims in the workplace
If allegations of sexual harassement are raised in the workplace, what particular difficulties arise and how can employers act fairly to all concerned? Richard Fox reports.
21 November 2017
An introduction to Data Protection Officers under the GDPR: Should you appoint one?
There is currently no legal requirement for companies to appoint a dedicated officer responsible for data protection; the Information Commissioner’s Office merely encourages this as good practice. However, this will change when the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) comes into force in May 2018 and introduces a requirement for certain organisations to appoint a Data Protection Officer (“DPO”).
16 November 2017
No, we don’t need new UK workplace sexual harassment laws
When something goes wrong there is often a clamour for new law. Sometimes that will help, but that does rather depend on what the problem is. The recent outcry over revelations of sexual harassment has largely come about because people chose to do things they should not have done, not because the law failed to tell them they were wrong to do them. There is some confusion over ‘harassment’ terminology but, at root, our current workplace equality laws are good laws. The problem rests with people’s behaviour and the problem needs be addressed by people.