Equal opportunities and more – there’s probably never been a month like it for employers. Although April has always denoted the implementation date for new legislative changes in the UK, 2017 sees a record-breaking array of far-reaching initiatives.

The Court of Appeal on March 1st  refused British Gas permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in the holiday pay case of British Gas v Mr Lock. "The Working Time Regulations  are properly to be read purposively to give effect to the CJEU ruling in Lock which means holiday pay must take into account overtime and commission earnings."

Recently two cases occurred where “employees” have sought clarification from employment tribunals of their actual status. In both cases, based on the facts not the paperwork, the tribunals have found the claimants were workers not subcontractors.

Is this holiday entitlement? What should employers do if their employees can’t get into work because of transport disruptions?

As you are employers, with the Christmas season now upon us I thought it would be a good time to reissue the normal precautionary advice to you.

Now for Christmas presents for suppliers. Where’s last year’s list?

In relation to staff used for freelance jobs, a specialist HMRC team will target employers suspected of avoiding national insurance.

It is estimated that by 2020 almost one in two people (47%) will get cancer, which in a lot of cases is a critical illness, at some point in their lives. Some employers may be ill equipped to deal with staff who have such a condition and are unfamiliar with the law.

Workers earning the national minimum wage (NMW) have received a pay rise as of 1 October 2016.

You need to take on a new person its cheaper to call them self employed saving national insurance and making them responsible for their own taxes. But are they really and will HMRC or an employment tribunal agree with you.