The latest issue of InfoLaw looks at the Information Commissioner's new guide to the Freedom of Information Act.

The Information Commissioner has recently published a new guide to freedom of information described as a “plain English guide”.

It has long been established that when a fixed term contract expires, and the employee’s contract is not extended resulting in his or her dismissal, that the reason for that dismissal is the employee’s redundancy. 

It is therefore best practice to follow redundancy procedures when an employee, on a fixed term contract, is approaching the end of the fixed term contract: certainly if the period of employment under the fixed term contract has extended beyond a period of 12 months. 

Property solicitor John Priddle explains the origins of quarter days in the property calendar and the challenges of leap years for landlords and tenants. 

The current economic climate has seen many employers looking at redundancy procedures in order to cut costs. It is well-established by case law that, even where the employer can show a real need to reduce staffing numbers due to a downturn in business, a failure to look for alternative employment within the organisation can make a redundancy dismissal unfair. 

The Government plans to increase the qualifying period for employees to bring claims of unfair dismissal moved one step closer with the recent publication of the draft legislation on this issue.  Assuming that legislation does not alter massively in the next few months, employees who commence employment on or after 6 April 2012 will have to wait two years before they can bring claims for unfair dismissal.  Any employee who starts a job before 5 April 2012 will still be able to rely on the one year qualifying period.
 

We have looked at the changing picture with regard to cookies’ compliance in previous updates.  To recap, the rules have completely changed, so that consent is required, in almost all cases, where a cookie is to be set.

The Article 29 Working Party (Europe’s Data Protection “Think Tank”) is due to publish a proposal for a radical new framework for Data Protection in the EU.  

What on earth does this mean – you may ask!  In a recent speech, the Justice Minister Lord McNally explained “now that the Act has been in operation for nearly seven years it is right that it is examined to see how well it is operating”.  

The National Intellectual Property Crime Group has published a guide to help businesses identify and combat intellectual property infringement in the work place.