Welcome to this month's briefing for HR teams and in-house employment counsel – bringing you this month’s employment law highlights in an easy-to-read package.
Bonus schemes usually fall into two main categories: genuinely discretionary schemes, where the only controls on the employer are that bonus allocations must not be perverse, arbitrary or capricious; and formulaic or fixed schemes, where amounts are predetermined or derived from a known metric such as profit or EBITDA. In an unusual recent case, the Tribunal had to decide whether a one-off sales bonus announced at a company town hall could be changed to introduce a cap on the cash amount and a senior authorisation requirement. Neither of those elements were communicated during the town hall, and the individual who had secured the relevant deal was, the Tribunal decided, therefore entitled to an uncapped amount. The decision is a useful reminder of the need to document bonus schemes carefully, and ensure all the required limits and controls are included from the outset.
One of the most significant changes in the new Employment Rights Act will be the new obligations on businesses that make use of zero-hours arrangements (and some low hours arrangements). Secondary legislation is needed to fill in the details in the general structure set out in the Act, but essentially, the scheme will require businesses to offer a guaranteed-hours contract at the end of each reference period, offering at least the...
A California-based physician was recently arrested after pleading guilty to charges of healthcare fraud. Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, was a medical director for Fountain Hospice, based in Los Angeles. Two...