Tughans Solicitors

Applicant with a conviction for murder – How do I handle it?

Patricia Rooney of Tughans’ Employment Department discusses issues arising when a candidate for employment discloses a conviction for murder. Would you want this person representing your organisation or providing services?  Do you have to interview him/her? When an applicant discloses a conviction for murder, you should be aware that a custodial sentence of more than... Read More

Are you a creditor who has been forced into a dubious “voluntary arrangement”?

An individual voluntary arrangement (known as an “IVA”) is a formal agreement between an individual debtor and their creditors that the debtor will pay an agreed sum of money to their creditors, usually by instalments over a period of years, in full and final satisfaction of their debts.  An IVA is often proposed by an... Read More

Oral contracts: stronger than oak?

Have you ever made or wanted to rely on an informal verbal agreement but assumed that it could not be legally enforced? In the 1996 movie ‘Jerry Maguire’, Tom Cruise plays a professional sports agent whose world falls apart when the father of an American football prodigy, Frank Cushman, reneges on a purely verbal agreement... Read More

Social Media – How do I handle it?

As part of our ‘How do I handle it’ series on employment law and difficult workplace scenarios, Rachel Richardson, Director at Tughans, considers the following problem and offers some practical advice. I am an HR manager and have found out that one of our employees has been sending offensive tweets about his manager from his... Read More

Consumer Credit and solar installations – a salutary tale

A Northern Irish solar company has been fined £2,000 after a couple was mis-sold a system based on its financial returns. The case was brought against Blue Build Energy by the Trading Standards Service (TSS) after a couple complained that they had agreed the purchase of the system based on false information relating to the... Read More

Covert recordings of meetings by employees – How do I handle it?

Rachel Richardson, Director, considers the following problem and offers some practical advice: I am an employer and recently held a disciplinary hearing with an employee, I suspect they were covertly recording the meeting on their phone. If this is correct and clearly they did this without our consent then presumably such evidence could not be... Read More

Last Orders – Where to Next?

With Easter 2016 now behind us, many will have noted the now annual outcry regarding Northern Ireland’s liquor licensing laws in the local press and media. Alcohol can only be served between 5pm and 11pm on Good Friday, pubs are required to stop serving alcohol at midnight on Thursday and Saturday, and on Easter Sunday... Read More

Environmental Nuisance: Liability of Landowners for the actions of Licensees

Granting a licence is a useful method of avoiding granting an interest in a property and providing greater control to the landowner to deal with their land. This is particularly useful to public authorities who are often restricted from disposing of their landholdings. However, the implications of this arrangement may be upon the landowner if... Read More

Principles for Government departments conducting consultations

Consultation in the Spotlight The government has recently published a revised set of consultation principles for government departments conducting consultations. The revised principles follow a number of successful judicial review challenges concerning the fairness of consultation processes. Locally consultation has hit the headlines with the Application for Judicial Review against the early closure of the... Read More

Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP) issue needs to be resolved.

Plan-making and decisions on major schemes across much of Northern Ireland are now in difficulties following a High Court judge’s ruling over the status of the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP). The plan covers Belfast City, Carrickfergus Borough, Castlereagh Borough, Lisburn City, Newtownabbey Borough and North Down Borough Council areas where some 40 per cent... Read More