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Setting up a business involves complying with a range of legal requirements. Find out which ones apply to you and your new enterprise.
What particular regulations do specific types of business (such as a hotel, or a printer, or a taxi firm) need to follow? We explain some of the key legal issues to consider for 200 types of business.
While poor governance can bring serious legal consequences, the law can also protect business owners and managers and help to prevent conflict.
Whether you want to raise finance, join forces with someone else, buy or sell a business, it pays to be aware of the legal implications.
From pay, hours and time off to discipline, grievance and hiring and firing employees, find out about your legal responsibilities as an employer.
Marketing matters. Marketing drives sales for businesses of all sizes by ensuring that customers think of their brand when they want to buy.
Commercial disputes can prove time-consuming, stressful and expensive, but having robust legal agreements can help to prevent them from occurring.
Whether your business owns or rents premises, your legal liabilities can be substantial. Commercial property law is complex, but you can avoid common pitfalls.
With information and sound advice, living up to your legal responsibilities to safeguard your employees, customers and visitors need not be difficult or costly.
As information technology continues to evolve, legislation must also change. It affects everything from data protection and online selling to internet policies for employees.
Intellectual property (IP) isn't solely relevant to larger businesses or those involved in developing innovative new products: all products have IP.
Knowing how and when you plan to sell or relinquish control of your business can help you to make better decisions and achieve the best possible outcome.
From bereavement, wills, inheritance, separation and divorce to selling a house, personal injury and traffic offences, learn more about your personal legal rights.
You must comply with legal restrictions on employees' working hours and time off. Failing to do so could lead to claims from employees, enforcement action or even prosecution. Giving employees fair holidays, work breaks and pay can also help to improve performance, reduce accidents and cut unauthorised absenteeism. You are legally required to consider requests from most employees for flexible working patterns.
The Working Time Regulations set requirements for employees' holidays, working hours and rest breaks. The regulations are designed to help protect employees' health, safety and welfare in line with the EU Working Time Directive.
Employees are entitled to work a maximum of 48 hours a week, unless they freely opt out from this limit. The working time regulations also include requirements for work breaks and for rest periods between working days.
Following a recent Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision, employers should check the working time of mobile employees who have no 'fixed place' of work. In this case, the judge ruled that time spent travelling to and from the first and last client of the day should count as working time.
The test of whether time qualifies as working time depends on whether the employee is:
Where workers have no fixed place of work, such as a central office or depot, workers are deemed to be working while travelling to and from a job.
Employees have a statutory holiday entitlement of a minimum of 5.6 weeks' paid leave a year. This applies pro rata to part-time workers: for example, an employee working two days a week has an annual leave entitlement of 11.2 days. The holiday entitlement can include public holidays such as bank holidays.
Special rules apply to young employees, night workers and Sunday working.
Employees have statutory entitlements to maternity, paternity and adoption leave. Parents and carers are also entitled to take unpaid parental leave of 18 weeks per child until their 18th birthday, with a maximum of four weeks per year per child. Employees can take reasonable unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant (for example if a child falls ill) and then apply for either annual leave or parental leave if more time off is needed. Employees have the right to unpaid compassionate leave for a dependant's funeral.
Employees are entitled to paid or unpaid leave for a variety of activities. For example, you need to allow employee representatives paid time off for carrying out their duties (for example, as a health and safety representative). You also need to allow employees unpaid time off for various public service activities such as acting as a magistrate. If you are making an employee redundant, you must allow time off for job-seeking.
You should have a clear policy on sick leave, time off related to a worker's disability, and any discretionary leave you allow. Include details about your employees' rights to parental leave and compassionate leave in your company handbook or employment contracts. You should also make clear the procedures employees must follow to request leave.
Flexible working can involve a wide range of arrangements, including flexitime, part-time work or working from home. Bear in mind any flexible working arrangement that you agree to is likely to become part of an employee's contractual terms, unless you specifically agree a temporary or trial arrangement.
All employees have the right to request flexible working. However, employees adopting employee-shareholder status do not have the statutory right to request flexible working except in relation to a flexible working request on return to work from maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
A request for flexible working might include a change to flexitime, part-time, working from home or some other arrangement.
You can only refuse the request for limited business reasons: for example, because the proposed flexible working arrangements would be too expensive or harm business performance. If you do not want to agree to a request for flexible working, you must ensure that you follow the right procedures and give a valid reason.