bmadmin

About bmadmin

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far bmadmin has created 121 blog entries.

Kate Matthews EWIF Double Award Winner! Service Provider and Ambassador of the Year 2021

We are delighted that partner and specialist franchise lawyer, Kate Matthews of Boddy Matthews Solicitors was a double award winner at the EWIF Awards 2021. Kate was awarded the highly coveted and prestigious awards in the category of the EWIF Service Provider of the Year 2021 and the category of EWIF Ambassador of the Year 2021. These two awards to Kate are a high accolade to her work and a testament to her dedication and commitment to our franchising clients and in particular the EWIF mission. The Boddy Matthews team is excited to be able to properly celebrate Kate’s success when UK Government lockdown restrictions allow. Boddy Matthews Solicitors would also like to congratulate again all the other finalists and especially the winners in their respective categories.

2021-09-24T15:44:35+01:00Sep, 2021|

Flexible work requests: Why employers must get these right

The recent case of a London estate agent who won damages in excess of £180,000 after her flexible work request was rejected, is of vital importance to both employers and employees. The case serves as a salutary reminder of why it is important to deal with flexible work requests cautiously, thoroughly and with an open mind.

Sometimes, less is more

In brief, the employee, a senior and successful sales manager in a small estate agency business, requested to come back from maternity leave on a 4-day week basis and to leave work at 5pm instead of 6pm on her working days. After considering a formal flexible work request, the employer rejected the request, relying on a number of permissible statutory grounds, including the burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; and planned structural change.

The employee disagreed with her employer’s approach, raised an unsuccessful grievance and subsequently, resigned her positioned. She brought a large number of employment tribunal claims, including for direct maternity and pregnancy discrimination, indirect sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.

In a lengthy and informative judgment, the employment tribunal rejected all of the employee’s claims bar one, namely the claim for indirect sex discrimination.

Importantly, the tribunal recognised that some of the employee’s complaints (which related to how she has been treated while pregnant and on maternity leave) may retrospectively read hostility into fairly innocent events. However, the tribunal was not side-tracked by this. Reviewing a large body of evidence and claims, it has done a very good job of “separating the baby from the bath water”.

Flexible work requests and sex discrimination

It is notable that while the flexible work request was at the centre of the employee’s complaints, she did not bring a claim under the flexible work request legislation. This is because such claims rarely succeed and are of limited value. Instead, the complaint and question for the tribunal was whether the rejection and its rejection amounted to indirect sex discrimination and, if so, whether the employer could rely on grounds for rejecting the complaint so as to justify any such discrimination. On the facts, the tribunal held that it could not.

While the tribunal lent some sympathy to the employer, it doubted the validity of the grounds on which the employer sought to rely. The tribunal felt that the employer’s grounds were not rooted in evidence and were the result of reluctance to change existing arrangements, rather than solid facts. Also, and crucial to the tribunal’s decision, was its finding that “notwithstanding an encouraging shift in societal attitudes, it is still the case that mothers are more likely to carry primary [childcare] responsibility than fathers”. With this in mind, and on the basis that the employer was unable to provide satisfactory evidence that the grounds for rejecting the employee’s complaint were genuine, the tribunal found for the employee.

Money, money, money

Awarding the employee £184,961.32 by way of compensation, the tribunal took into account the employee’s “sustained search for work”, as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on her efforts and actual losses. The employee was compensated for losses spanning over some 20 months (of which 18 months preceded the hearing) and include pay in lieu of Furlough pay the employee was likely to have been paid had she remained at work.

There are no real winners in this case. The employer has to pay significant damages on top of legal fees and the loss of a valued and successful member of staff. The employee lost her livelihood and a career she enjoyed and excelled in. It is possible that if the parties had the chance to go back in time, they would have approached things differently. For those receiving flexible work request in future, we can only reiterate the advice to deal with such request cautiously, thoroughly and with an open mind.

 

2021-09-15T11:05:14+01:00Sep, 2021|

EWIF South Meeting

As online meetings continue in place of physical meetings, EWIF is delighted to maintain contact with its Ambassadors. Chair of EWIF South, Kate Matthews of Boddy Matthews Solicitors hosted another successful online EWIF meeting in April 2021. The meeting attracted diverse professional attendees including franchisors and professional advisors. Louise Bruce from Big Red Box PR and Jim Mclaughlin from the Franchise Protection Company gave fascinating talks as guest speakers. Louise has provided helpful pointers on how to maximise your business opportunities using PR and social media and Jim discussed the importance of franchise business protection insurance. Kate Matthews looks forward to hosting the next Meeting in June 2021 and the return of in person meetings in the Autumn!

2021-08-25T14:58:50+01:00Apr, 2021|

Charitable Donations

During these challenging times through 2020 and national lockdown, the world adapted and business tried to continue. This meant challenges for those needing legal services. Helen Boddy and Kate Matthews of Boddy Matthews Solicitors during this period provided their legal services for certification of documents and witnessing of signatures free of charge whilst complying with the COVID restrictions and social distancing rules imposed. Collecting donations rather than charge fees for their chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer, lead to a significant sum of £530 being raised. Helen and Kate were delighted to finally be able to present their 2020 charitable donations to East Surrey Macmillan Cancer Support Centre designated for their new Summer House project.

Helen and Kate cycled to the East Surrey Macmillan Support Centre to hand over their charitable donations as part of an eco green activity for Boddy Matthews Solicitors in tandem with its corporate social responsibility.

2021-08-27T17:03:01+01:00Mar, 2021|

EWIF Awards 2021

Helen Boddy, Kate Matthews, Michal Stein and Olivia Canessa Davies of Boddy Matthews Solicitors enjoyed a lovely evening at the virtual EWIF Awards 2021! The Awards though held virtually, were a great success despite not being able to celebrate in person. The Boddy Matthews team actively seek to encourage, inspire and support gender equality and celebrate fantastic achievements in overcoming obstacles in business environments, and in particular in the field of franchising, one of their specialist practice areas. As you can see, it was not all about business as the team at Boddy Matthews Solicitors had a lot of fun with the virtual photo booth!!

2021-08-27T17:00:14+01:00Mar, 2021|

EWIF Award Winner at Caremark Sponsored by Boddy Matthews

Boddy Matthews fully participated in the virtual EWIF Awards ceremony on Thursday evening as sponsors of the EWIF Woman Franchise Employee of the Year 2021. Heartfelt congratulations to Elaine Hamilton of Caremark who won this award for her amazing achievements as employee of the Sutton Franchise. We are very proud to be able to recognise Elaine’s work as sponsors for this employee in franchising, which complements our employment specialism at Boddy Matthews. Well done Elaine!

2021-08-27T17:01:40+01:00Mar, 2021|

Kate Matthews – Double EWIF Award Finalist!

Boddy Matthews Solicitors are particularly delighted to announce that Kate Matthews of the firm is a finalist for two highly sought after industry awards of the year 2021, celebrated by Encouraging Women Into Franchising- the EWIF Awards 2021.  Kate is shortlisted as a finalist in the categories of EWIF Service Provider of the Year  2021 sponsored by FranScape and shortlisted as a finalist for the EWIF Ambassador of the Year 2021 sponsored by What Franchise. Boddy Matthews would like to congratulate Kate and all the 2021 EWIF Award Finalists and wish them the best of luck at the upcoming March 2021 Awards.

2021-08-27T17:02:28+01:00Feb, 2021|

Boddy Matthews Solicitors – EWIF Awards Sponsor

Boddy Matthews Solicitors are privileged to again be a sponsor for the prestigious Encouraging Women Into Franchising Awards 2021. This year Boddy Matthews Solicitors are the sponsor in a subject matter close to their heart being the employment and the services women offer. We are proud to sponsor the EWIF Woman Franchise Employee of the Year  2021 award. Good luck to all the amazing finalists shortlisted. For information on how to celebrate with us at the online Awards Ceremony on 11 March 2021, please visit the EWIF website!

2021-08-27T17:03:52+01:00Feb, 2021|

Online EWIF Regional Meeting

Kate Matthews of Boddy Matthews Solicitors chaired yet another successful online meeting for the EWIF South group and was joined by Olivia Canessa Davies of the firm. This was the first EWIF Meeting of 2021 and it was lovely to catch up with familiar faces whilst getting to know a number of new franchise guests. Two bankers specialising in franchising gave insightful talks into the current financial climate and franchisor and franchisee support. It was motivational and uplifting to learn of the emotional and commercial support attendees were giving to each other through this difficult time which is what makes the franchise community so special.

2021-08-27T17:06:42+01:00Feb, 2021|

NatWest Future Fit Economic Webinar

Kate found the NatWest Future Fit economic webinar forum to be highly motivational and inspirational. With excellent speakers leaders in their field providing the economic prognosis in light of all factors affecting businesses, including the innovative founder of Cobra beer, Lord Karan Bilimoria, the event was a fantastic start to 2021.

2021-08-27T17:07:23+01:00Jan, 2021|
Go to Top