Business Update September 2007

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Monitoring staff in the workplace There are any number of legitimate reasons for wanting to monitor your staff in the workplace - you could be concerned about breaches of company Internet policy, for example, or worried about ...Finding the right location for your business A hairdresser on an industrial estate will never attract as many customers as one in a town centre. A white-goods seller in a narrow lane will find receiving and making deliveries onerous. Being in ...Choosing an online payment system Being a successful e-retailer is not just about having an attractive website or offering the best deals; repeat sales are also dependent on making payment easy, and Internet shoppers are no longer ...Avoiding unfair commercial practices Very few businesses set out to coerce or mislead people into buying something they don't really need, and unscrupulous, over-zealous and uninformed traders are held in check by a raft of consumer ...Q&A: Making the most of surplus cash Rob Simpson (RS), managing director at Independent Financial Adviser Simpson Financial Services, tells Tom Whitney how small-business owners can get higher returns for their surplus funds.What ...10 ways to... set up a green supply chain Selecting and managing your suppliers so you receive the most environmentally friendly products and services can reduce your costs, underpin a positive PR strategy, and increase your customer base. ...Increase in national minimum wage The national minimum wage is increased from 1 October 2007. The adult rate (for workers aged 22 and over) rises from £5.35 to £5.52 an hour. The development rate for 18- to 21-year-olds ...Case law: employee's contacts list may be 'company property' Businesses need to make sure that their employees cannot take a business contacts list with them if they leave to go to a new job, even if they brought part of the list with them when they ...Case law: age discrimination claim on retirement fails Employers will welcome a recent tribunal decision on the way in which the age discrimination rules that came into force last October (2006) are applied to retirement. The tribunal decided that a ...Case law: dyslexia is a disability Employers must take all steps to identify, and make reasonable adjustments for, any employee with dyslexia in order to avoid disability discrimination claims. In a recent case, a police officer, ...New guide available for businesses on collecting personal information using websites Businesses that collect details about their customers, or potential customers, via their website can now use a Good Practice Note to ensure that they comply with all the relevant data protection ...Case law: third-party pressure can justify dismissal A recent case has clarified the issues that an employer must take into account when dismissing an employee on the basis of pressure from, and information provided by, a third party. An employee ...Case law: agency workers not entitled to statutory sick pay Employers are not liable to pay statutory sick pay to agency workers on contracts lasting less than three months, following a recent Court of Appeal ruling. An agency worker was engaged by an ...Case law: enforcement of information and consultation obligations Businesses with more than 100 employees must take notice of the requirements of the Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 2004. These oblige employers to inform and consult with their ...Have your say: revised code of practice on CCTV at work Businesses that use CCTV at their premises need to ensure that they comply with the relevant legislation, and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is seeking interested parties' views on a ...Have your say: improving payment practices in the construction industry Businesses engaged in the construction industry, or that deal with construction companies, now have the opportunity to comment on new proposals concerning payment practices. The Department for ...Round-up of new rules in force from 1 October 2007 A number of new measures are due to apply from 1 October: increase in minimum statutory holiday entitlement: the first phase of the increase in the number of days to which employees are entitled, ...My premises have been hit by disaster... If your premises are hit by a disaster, you are not alone: according to the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) nearly one in five businesses suffers a major disruption every year. This could be ...Case study: How I chose my business location THE SOLUTION: "My partner and I have four businesses based in Peterborough and Birmingham and we are about to open our fifth restaurant and pub, Oaka, in Kennington, London. "It was ...