Baines Wilson LLP, Lawyers for Business, hold regular seminars to keep employers up to date with the latest court rulings and the real impact they have on businesses across the UK.

In fact, the sessions are so busy, that the team is starting to share their expertise at a new venue in St Bees on 28 March, adding to the already packed events in Penrith, Newby Bridge and Lancaster.

Business leaders in Cumbria and north Lancashire will hear what the latest developments in employment law mean for them and their employees this Spring.

Amongst the topics covered at the seminars will be this year’s employment law hot topic, employment status or the “gig economy”.

The rise in the “gig economy”, where temporary positions are common and organisations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements (like Uber and Deliveroo), is giving rise to an increased number of cases from workers seeking greater rights.

The term ‘gig’ economy has been coined because people get paid for each “gig” they perform, which could be providing a taxi journey or delivering food without any guaranteed hours. These type of jobs offer no holiday pay, sick pay, protection against unfair dismissal, no right to redundancy payments or right to receive the national minimum wage. It’s different to a zero hours contract, where casual contractors don't get guaranteed hours but they might receive holiday pay, but not usually sick pay.

A recent court case has thrown the ‘gig’ economy into a spin, as an employment tribunal has ruled that some drivers for Uber are in fact workers, which gives them rights to receive holidays, national minimum wage and breaks. The Court of Appeal also found that a so called ‘self-employed’ plumber was also in fact a worker.

Joanne Holborn, Employment Lawyer at Baines Wilson said: “We’ll be asking delegates at the seminar to consider how they employ their staff. We will illustrate where case law hasn’t yet caught up with the way modern workplaces operate. We’ll help employers plan for some of the issues they will face and advise them on the differences between employees with full employment status, workers and the self-employed and all the gray areas in between.”

“Along with my expert colleagues Tom Scaife and Caroline Rayner, we’ll also be addressing some hot topics that have been requested by those who have attended previous seminars, including: recruitment, transfer of undertakings (TUPE), grievances as well as case law and legislation updates.”

Seminars are planned for:

St Bees Management Centre on Tuesday 28 March 2017;

Lancaster House Hotel on Thursday 30 March 2017;

Rheged, near Penrith on Thursday 4 April 2017;

The Swan Hotel, Newby Bridge on Tuesday 11 April 2017.

The seminars run from 9.30am to 12.30pm, delegates start with pastries and hot drinks and finish the session with a buffet lunch.