Seyfarth Shaw LLP (LexBlog United Kingdom)

In light of recent legislative changes in the United Kingdom, from 26 October 2024, UK employers have a new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers in the course of their employment. This caused us to reflect on the key lessons that can be drawn from Australia’s experience with very similar...

In an effort to introduce a fully digital immigration system, the UK Government has announced that Biometric Residence Permits (BRP), Biometric Residence Cards (BRC) and any other legacy paper documents with ink stamp or visa vignette will be phased out, and that as of January 1, 2025, they will no longer be in circulation. How...

By William Hampshire, Verity Musselwhite Steel, Yannick Ramsamy, and Paul Whinder Seyfarth Synopsis: Following the Labour Party’s victory in the General Election on 4 July 2024, it is now expected that they will keep their promise of tabling some significant legislative changes to the UK’s labor law within their first 100 days of government. These planned...

By Paul Whinder and Daniel P. Hart Seyfarth Synopsis: At the State Opening of Parliament last week, the UK Government outlined its legislative agenda through the King’s Speech, an annual address where the ruling monarch, wearing the Imperial State Crown, reads a speech that has been prepared by the current Government outlining the Prime Minister’s priorities for the...

This post was originally published to Seyfarth’s Trading Secrets blog. The UK government has announced that it will bring in legislation to restrict the post-employment non-compete restraints to three months. This is a significant proposal as currently non-compete restrictions in the UK are generally capable of being enforced for a period up to 12 months...

By: Nelli Shevchenko The U.K. Home Office has updated the Employer’s Guidance on Right to Work Checks on 28 February 2023. The guidance contains important information about obligations and compliance processes for UK right to work applications made by UK-based employers. Changes include clarifications on eVisa and BRPs checks, use of ID Service Providers, and clarifications of...

By: Angelo A. Paparelli   “America is back, the trans-Atlantic alliance is back.” – So declared President Biden on February 23, 2021.  Apparently, however, Antony J. Blinken, the newly installed U.S. Secretary of State (DOS), didn’t get the memo.  On March 2, 2021, he “rescinded the previous national interest determination regarding categories of travelers eligible for...

The Supreme Court in the UK, the highest court in the country, last week ruled on a restrictive covenant case for the first time in 100 years [Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32 (3 July 2019)]. It has clarified important points on interpretation, the key takeaway being it will now be easier for...

By: Deirdre M. Murphy The following is directed to organizations with a presence in the UK or who anticipate the need to place talent at a UK work site. Seyfarth Shaw’s Global Mobility Practice hosts attorneys licensed to practice in the UK, Canada, Ireland and Germany. The group has the capability to assist clients with...

As a special feature of our blog—guest postings by experts, clients, and other professionals—please enjoy this blog entry from Jeremy Morton, Partner at Harbottle & Lewis LLP, London, UK. For the first time ever, we have UK-wide legislation that concerns the protection of confidential information. Modifying its approach in light of a recent consultation exercise,...

Today, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), the UK data protection authority, released for public comment its draft “Regulatory Action Policy,” a document in which the ICO seeks to set forth its objectives in taking regulatory action, present its new investigatory and enforcement powers, and explain how it aims to use them. The comment period will...

As a special feature of our blog—guest postings by experts, clients, and other professionals—please enjoy this blog entry from Jeremy Morton, Partner at Harbottle & Lewis LLP, London, UK. The UK government has finally launched a consultation on its proposed “Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc) Regulations 2018,” in advance of the June 9, 2018, deadline to...

Seyfarth Synopsis: The UK Parliament has passed the EU Withdrawal Bill, paving the way for the Government to invoke Article 50, the mechanism for leaving the European Union, by the end of March 2017.  On March 13, 2017, the UK Parliament passed the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill.  The Bill’s purpose is to allow...

By Paul Whinder and Tessa Cranfield Seyfarth Synopsis: The trend of increased regulation of the financial services industry continues apace in the UK with the recent introduction of mandatory rules on whistleblowing governance. . New rules on whistleblowing have come into effect which impact certain Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) regulated...

Season’s Tweetings In the first UK high court decision on tweeting, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that dismissal of an employee for offensive posts on his private twitter account could potentially justify termination under the UK’s unfair dismissal rules. The employee was dismissed after a colleague raised an anonymous complaint about the content of...

By Peter Talibart, Dan Hart, and Georgina McAdam As many employers have experienced, guarding against misuse of confidential and proprietary information by former employees can be a challenge in an increasingly digitalized and globalized marketplace.  For companies with operations in the United Kingdom, recent court decisions provide some helpful guidance on protecting confidential and...