Business Law Library & Tracker
Dismissal, Redundancy & Grievances
Performance, misconduct, redundancy, termination and employee complaints.
Sources last reviewed 28 July 2026
Main law guides
122
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
60
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
143
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
11
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Use the linked official source for section-level detail, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpMain laws
Employment Act 2002
2002 c. 22
Employment Rights Act 1996
UKPGA 1996 c 18
Employment Rights Act 2025
2025 c. 36
Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999
SI 1999/3312
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018
2018 c. 24
Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000
SI 2000/1551
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006
SI 2006/246
Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
UKPGA 1998 c 23
Cases
Acer Incorporated & Anor v Nokia Technologies Oy
If your products rely on standardised technology, do not treat a licence offer as just a pricing discussion. This case shows that the structure of the offer can be...
Airconco UK Limited v DC Air Condition and Refrigeration Limited
For ordinary businesses, the lesson is simple: do not treat website copy as free to reuse just because it is public and promotional. If you lift wording from a...
Bath Racecourse Ltd v Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE
Insurance recovery is calculated under the policy, not from headline revenue loss alone. Grants, reimbursements and avoided costs may affect the final amount. Keep...
Dairy UK Ltd v Oatly AB
If you sell plant-based food or drink in the UK, do not assume a creative slogan, campaign line or trade mark is safe just because it is obviously non-dairy in...
DSM IP Assets BV & Anor v Algal Omega 3 Limited (In Administration) & Anor
For most small businesses, the durable lesson is not about the science. It is about IP diligence. A patent can look commercially important, but its real value...
Easygroup Limited v Easyfeetstore OÜ & Ors
For business owners, the lesson cuts both ways. If you are launching a brand, do proper trade mark checks before going live, especially if your name starts with a...
Euro Car Parks Limited v Competition & Markets Authority
The durable lesson is about process discipline and publication risk. If your business gets an information notice from the CMA or another regulator, verify it...
Great Asia Maritime Ltd v Orion Shipping and Trading LLC
An express termination clause does more than decide whether a party can exit. Its compensation language can create a separate damages right. Draft the trigger,...
Handy Cross Dev Co Ltd v Vanni Properties Ltd
If you are buying land for a development, do not assume your planning drawings, engineering plans or later design changes will fix an unclear legal boundary. The...
Ian Paul McKavney v Serco Group Plc & Ors
The lesson is narrow but useful. Do not assume that moving employees out of one group pension arrangement automatically gives them an immediate unreduced pension,...
On Tower UK Limited v AP Wireless II (UK) Limited
If your business hosts telecoms equipment, buys land with telecoms apparatus on it, or takes an assignment of site rights, do not assume only the original...
Pridewell Properties (London) Limited v Spirit Pub Company (Managed) Limited
If you are a landlord relying on redevelopment to oppose a new tenancy, this case shows the court will test the practical detail, not just the headline plan. It is...
Saxon Woods Investments Ltd v Costa
A director can disagree strongly with the board, but must use the company's governance process to do it. Honest belief is not a licence to run a private...
Tangent Properties (North) Ltd v Evans Homes (Skelton) No 2 Limited
If your business wants to reward someone through a share of development profits, success fees or project upside, document the arrangement properly at the time....
THG Plc v Zedra Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd
Do not assume an old shareholder complaint has disappeared, but do not assume it can be brought forever either. This case says the court must look at what the...
Abbott Diabetes Care Inc v Sinocare Inc & Ors
Do not assume a product’s shape will do the same legal work as a brand name or logo. If customers, clinicians, buyers or distributors mainly identify products by...
Accord Healthcare Limited & Ors v The Regents of the University of California & Anor
If your business is planning to launch around a competitor’s patent, do not assume that a minor technical tweak will be enough to invalidate it. In this case, the...
Adriatic Land 5 Limited v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point & Anor
If you own or manage a building with long residential leases, do not assume that a cost is recoverable just because the lease wording would normally allow it or...
AJP Homes Limited v Tate Estates (Lambert House) Limited
The main lesson is to treat the transfer as an operating document, not just a title document. A broad right of way may allow more than simple movement from A to B....
Andrew Cannestra v Mclaren Automotive Events Limited
If you sell premium experiences, especially overseas or through local suppliers, do not assume the local operator alone carries the risk. The court treated the...
Angela Emmerson v Human Givens Institute Limited
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is simple: do not assume you can share information just because one person involved says yes. If your business holds...
AstraZeneca AB & Anor v Generics (UK) Limited & Ors
If your business is involved in a patent or similar rights dispute, do not assume an existing injunction will simply continue after an adverse appeal result. The...
Bilta (UK) Ltd (in liquidation) and others v Tradition Financial Services Ltd
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is not about carbon trading itself. It is about counterparties, intermediaries and warning signs. If your business helps...
Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs v Hotel La Tour Ltd
If your business is selling shares in a subsidiary, do not assume that VAT on legal, tax, modelling, due diligence or corporate finance fees will be recoverable...
D.E.L.T.A. Merseyside Limited and another v Uber Britannia Limited
If you run a private hire business outside London and Plymouth, this case gives you more freedom over how bookings are structured, but it does not let you be vague....
Dr Christopher Day v Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
The durable lesson for employers is not that public rebuttals are safe, but that they are risky and must be handled with discipline. The EAT said the tribunal was...
easyGroup Limited v Easy Live (Services) Limited & Ors
The practical lesson is not simply ‘avoid famous brands’. It is more specific: test the exact wording you want to use, not just your full company name or logo. In...
easyGroup Limited v easyfundraising Limited & Ors
Read this case as a practical lesson in running two separate trade mark checks. First, if you own registrations, can you prove genuine use of the mark as registered...
Equity & Ors v Talent Systems Europe Limited (trading as Spotlight)
If your business runs a directory, marketplace or subscription platform for freelancers, this case shows that labels alone do not decide your legal status, but your...
Expert Tooling and Automation Limited v Engie Power Limited
If you use a broker, do not stop at a general statement that the broker is paid commission. Ask who pays it, whether it is built into your price, how much it is or...
Great Jackson St Estates Limited v The Council of The City of Manchester
If your project sits on leasehold land, review the lease before major planning, design and funding costs are committed. Check every clause affecting demolition,...
Justin Gutmann v Apple Inc & Ors
If your business runs a platform, marketplace or other model that could attract a competition class action, this case is a reminder that funding challenges may not...
Merck KGaA v Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC & Anor
If your business has territorial limits on brand use, treat them as operational rules that need technical and commercial controls behind them. Audit your websites,...
Mex Group Worldwide Limited v Adam Duthie & Anor
For business owners, the durable lesson is not about the underlying cross-border fight. It is about control of confidential information once a relationship with a...
Modernatx, Inc v Pfizer Limited & Ors
The durable lesson is practical. If your business relies on patents, be precise about what your claims cover and keep clear records of the technical problem you...
Mohinder Singh & Ors v David Ingram (in his capacity as the Liquidator of MSD Cash and Carry PLC)
For business owners, directors and insolvency practitioners, the lesson is simple: do not assume that a funding agreement signed part-way through a dispute only...
Morley's (Fast Foods) Limited v Thurairasa Nanthankumar & Ors
For small and growing food businesses, the lesson is simple: do not assume that changing the name alone makes your branding safe. The court looked at the overall...
Phones 4U Limited (in administration) v EE Limited & Ors
The durable lesson is straightforward. A business can lawfully make a tough commercial decision, even one that rivals may also be considering, but it must make that...
Sky UK Limited v The Office of Communications
The durable lesson is about service classification, not a blanket label for every Sky product. The ruling supports Ofcom’s interpretation for the issue in dispute...
Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited & Anor v Alex Neill Class Representative Limited
If your business faces a funded competition claim, assume the claimant may still have workable third-party funding even after PACCAR. You can still review the...
Tesco Stores Limited, R (on the application of) v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council & Anor
If your business is involved in a retail planning application, treat site availability as a live issue until the decision is made. Do not assume a more central site...
Tesla Inc & Anor v InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is about licensing structure, not electric cars. If your product depends on standard-essential patents, the legal route...
Thatchers Cider Company Limited v Aldi Stores Limited
The lesson is not that you can never use common flavour cues, category colours or fruit imagery. The problem is pushing the design so far that it deliberately calls...
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & Ors v Lundbeck Limited & Ors
For business owners, the lasting lesson is not limited to pharmaceuticals. If your business makes a deal with a competitor that delays entry, restricts selling, or...
Thom Browne Inc & Anor v Adidas AG
The main lesson is to be precise when filing position marks. If your branding depends on a feature appearing on a sleeve, side panel, pocket, shoe upper or similar...
URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd
If your business develops, designs or helps build residential property, do not assume risk ends when the units are sold or when an old six-year limitation position...
Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company v FW Aviation (Holdings) 1 Limited
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is simple: if your deal is funded by lenders or secured against key assets, do not treat the supplier or original...
Westfield Park Limited v Harworth Estates Investments Limited
Do not assume a court will treat a practical improvement as the same as the contractual trigger. If the real bargain is "pay more when static caravans are allowed",...
Andrew Prismall v Google UK Limited & Anor
Do not treat this case as permission to take broad rights over sensitive data. The court upheld the strike out because of the way the claim was framed as a...
Anthony John Wright and Geoffrey Paul Rowley & Ors v Dominic Joseph Andrew Chappell & Ors (Re BHS Group Ltd & Ors (in liquidation))
For ordinary business owners, the practical lesson is simple: once your company is in serious financial trouble, board decisions need to become more disciplined,...
Christine Self v Santander Cards UK Limited
For small and mid-sized businesses in consumer finance, the practical lesson is not that any standard form will always block later claims. The lesson is narrower...
Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs v Professional Game Match Officials Ltd
Flexibility before an assignment does not prevent employment obligations arising during an accepted assignment. Businesses using casual or assignment-by-assignment...
Costcutter Supermarkets Group Limited v Ameet Kumar Vaish & Anor
If your contract says a customer must pay for goods delivered, a general liability cap may not be enough to let that customer avoid the invoice. The court treated...
Engineer.AI Global Limited v Appy Pie Ltd & Anor
If your brand leans on a common descriptive word, treat evidence as part of the brand asset. Keep UK-specific sales figures, campaign records, website metrics,...
Hendy Group Ltd v Daniel Kennedy
If you are making someone redundant, do not treat redeployment as a box-ticking exercise. This case shows that fairness may depend on whether you took reasonable...
Lifestyle Equities CV and another v Ahmed and another
For business owners, this case draws a practical line between company exposure and personal exposure in brand disputes. If your company uses a sign that infringes...
Lipton and another v BA Cityflyer Ltd
If your business operates flights or handles passenger claims, do not assume that last-minute crew illness will excuse compensation. The Supreme Court treated the...
Morley’s (Fast Foods) Limited v Jeyatharini Sivakumar & Ors
The practical message is clear. If your business has settled a branding dispute, do not treat the approved logo as a flexible starting point for future redesigns....
Options UK Personal Pensions LLP v Financial Ombudsman Service Limited
If your firm is FCA-regulated, do not assume that execution-only wording or no-advice declarations will protect you from a complaint about losses. This case shows...
P Patel v DPD Group UK Limited
The practical point is not that any substitution clause will do. A clause only helps if it is genuine, broad enough to matter, and consistent with how the...
Panasonic Holdings Corporation v Xiaomi Technology UK Limited & Ors
If your business uses standardised technology and is prepared to take a court-determined FRAND licence, say so early, document it clearly and keep that position...
Rajinder Kumar & Ors v LSC Finance Limited
If your business lends or borrows against land, do not treat purpose wording as boilerplate. A court will look at the actual intended use of the land and the real...
Restaurant EC3 Limited v Tavor Holdings Limited
If your business is in dispute with a landlord over forfeiture, do not assume that an unlawful re-entry claim will automatically cancel out rent arrears in...
THG PLC & Ors v Zedra Trust Company (Jersey) Limited
If your business is dealing with a shareholder dispute, do not assume the section 994 label answers the timing question. Start with the act being challenged, the...
Walter Hugh Merricks CBE v Mastercard Incorporated & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the main lesson is not about running a card scheme. It is about litigation risk travelling through a supply chain. The claim alleged that...
WaterRower (UK) Limited v Liking Limited (t/a Topiom)
Do not read this case as saying copied products are safe. The narrower lesson is that WaterRower’s copyright case failed on subsistence, despite accepted copying,...
Canada Square Operations Ltd v Potter
The safest reading for business owners is straightforward. Do not assume that six years automatically closes off risk if your business model depended on not telling...
TUI UK Ltd v Griffiths
If your business is defending a claim that depends on expert evidence, do not assume you can stay silent during the evidence stage and then argue at the end that...
Vadim Don Benyatov v Credit Suisse (Securities) Europe Ltd
The practical lesson is about clarity, scope and risk allocation. An employer may owe recognised duties of care and may have to reimburse some expenses or...
Dwyer (UK Franchising) Limited v Fredbar Limited & Anor.
If you use franchise agreements, do not assume a 12 month restraint is safe just because similar clauses have been upheld elsewhere. The court said each case turns...
Harpur Trust v Brazel
Holiday pay is a payroll legal issue, not just an HR estimate. Employers with variable-hours, term-time or irregular workers should use current statutory rules and...
London & South Eastern Railway Limited & Ors v Justin Gutmann
Read this case as a warning about pricing operations and channel design, not as a final statement that the defendants acted unlawfully. The Court of Appeal did not...
Ventures Food Limited v Little Dessert Shop Limited
If your business model involves one entity taking a lease and another occupying the premises, make the documents say clearly what right is being granted and what...
Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait)
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is not really about high-level arbitration theory. It is about contract housekeeping. If you trade with a company in a...
Quantum Actuarial LLP v Quantum Advisory Ltd
If you are restructuring a business, spinning out an operating vehicle, or outsourcing client work within a group, draft the agreement around the real commercial...
Travel Counsellors Ltd v Trailfinders Ltd
Do not assume a new recruit or franchisee is free to bring over a customer list just because they know the customers personally. If the volume, format or detail of...
Uber BV v Aslam
Businesses using contractors, platform workers or gig-style models should test the real relationship, not just the label in the contract. Control over pricing,...
Chapelgate Credit Opportunity Master Fund Ltd v Money & Ors
If your business is using a commercial funder to back a claim, do not assume the funder’s downside is automatically capped at the amount it puts in. This case shows...
The Racing Partnership Ltd & Ors v Sports Information Services Ltd
The durable lesson is about sourcing discipline. If you receive commercially valuable information from a third party, ask where it comes from, what rights sit...
Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd & Anor v Fielding & Anor
If your business funds someone else’s court claim, the court may treat you as a real participant in the litigation rather than a bystander. That risk increases...
Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd
Do not assume the freeholder is always the right party for a telecoms agreement. Under the Code, the occupier is generally the person who can confer code rights. A...
Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti
Employers need clean investigation and dismissal processes, especially after complaints or whistleblowing. A decision-maker should not rely blindly on a manager's...
The Secretary of State for Transport v Arriva Rail East Midlands Ltd ("Arriva")
If your business is excluded from a tender, do not assume every claim runs on the same clock. This case shows that a private law damages claim may not automatically...
Wood v Capita Insurance Services Limited
Warranties and indemnities are not interchangeable safety nets. A buyer needs each risk mapped to the trigger, notice process, time limit, liability cap and remedy...
The English Electric Company Ltd v Alstom UK
Do not assume a historic employee claim stays with the original employer after a business transfer. In this case, the court held that wording about claims arising...
Arnold v Britton
Compounding clauses deserve the same attention as headline price terms. Courts use context and commercial common sense to understand words, but they do not rescue a...
FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC
An agent cannot keep an undisclosed payment connected with the work it was engaged to perform. Businesses using brokers, introducers and acquisition advisers should...
Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher
If your contractor agreement says one thing but daily operations say another, the operational reality can win. Substitution clauses, freedom language and...