The word ‘resignation’ denotes voluntary departure from employment – but it bears a different meaning if you are a civil servant, the Court of Appeal has ruled in an important decision for any worker affected by privatisation of public services. A veteran prison officer’s employment had transferred to a company when the prison where she worked was...

The Green Belt is not as sacrosanct as some might wish it to be and must sometimes give way to the modern world’s need for essential infrastructure. The point was made when the High Court gave the green light to construction of a strategic rail freight interchange on a 419-hectare site in rural Hertfordshire. The proposals had first been put forward in 2006...

Following the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Lock v British Gas Trading Limited that an employee’s holiday pay must take account of his commission payments, the Employment Tribunal (ET) has decided that it is possible to read words into the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) in order to overcome the incompatibility...

Government policy is firmly in favour of encouraging renewable energy sources, but that did not avail the would-be developers of a solar energy plant which was planned to cover more than 22 hectares of countryside. In striking down planning permission for the scheme, the High Court identified numerous failings by local planners. The owner of a listed mansion in...

Those who voluntarily submit contract disputes to adjudicators must live with their decisions, right or wrong. However, in one wholly exceptional case, the High Court suspended payment of £1.5 million of an adjudicator’s award on the basis that one of the parties might otherwise receive an unjustified windfall. Company A had employed company B to carry out...