This Practice Note considers workplace ‘ghosting’, where an employee or candidate accepts a job but fails to turn up for work, or stops attending or disappears without giving notice of termination or resignation. For information on the situation where an employer ghosts a prospective employee or candidate, see Q&A: What issues arise when an employer ghosts a prospective employee? The term ‘ghosting’ stems from the online dating world where, at some point during the relationship, one person stops communicating with the other without explanation—they are ‘dumped’ without ever actually being told they are dumped. In the workplace, a candidate or employee might ‘ghost’ their employer at any stage—from not attending an interview, or not turning up for their first day on the job, through to walking out of the door at any stage in the employment relationship and never returning. A 2023 survey by Indeed: When Candidates and Recruiters Vanish: Indeed’s Ghosting in Hiring Report found that 46% of job seekers surveyed in the US thought

This ‘How to’ guide sets out the steps an employer should consider when dealing with a long-term sickness and absence issue. It considers stress and mental ill health, neurodiversity, the interaction with disability and the duty to make reasonable adjustments, sick pay and capability dismissal. This guide is intended as a practical issue-spotting tool for advisers supporting HR professionals, finance directors and other employer stakeholders dealing with long-term sickness absence. The appropriate approach in any situation, is fact specific and will depend on the employee’s condition, length of absence, prognosis, contractual rights, any potential disability issues, the employer’s policies and benefits, the employer’s operational needs and the evidence available at the time decisions are made. The employer should bear in mind that a well-implemented and conducted absence management procedure should enable a business to uphold expected standards of attendance and performance, while at the same time promoting good employee relations. For information on dealing with long-term absence and chronic sickness issues, see Practice Note: Dealing with long-term or chronic sickness. For general information

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a UK financial regulatory body established by Act of Parliament in 2013. It operates independently of government and is accountable to HM Treasury and to the UK Parliament. It is funded by fees charged to the financial services sector. Role The FCA is responsible for the conduct and prudential regulation of financial firms not overseen by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) (eg solo-regulated firms). For insurers, deposit takers, and certain systemically important investment firms also regulated by the PRA (eg dual-regulated firms), the FCA is the conduct regulator. It also regulates consumer credit and claims management companies, and oversees the UK's financial markets. The FCA's primary role includes supervising authorised financial firms, ensuring compliance with financial regulations, and enforcing actions against non-compliance. It has the authority to issue fines, revoke authorisations, approvals, and permissions to undertake certain activities, and prosecute offences under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000). It maintains a register of service providers and products that can be accessed by users. For further

This is a practical step-by-step ‘how to’ guide to determining the appropriate treatment for employee share options, awards and employee-held shares in the target company on a private company acquisition, and then implementing this treatment alongside the wider corporate transaction. It deals only with awards and interests over actual shares in the target company (as opposed to phantom arrangements). The planning for this should begin early because it can affect the wider transaction structure, timetable, tax liabilities and completion mechanics. This guide is designed to be read in conjunction with our Practice Note: Private company transactions—share incentive considerations. Confirm the transaction structure and timetable Confirm that the acquisition will be implemented as a private company share purchase and identify the proposed completion mechanics of this and when control will pass. Identify the buyer’s objectives, including whether it requires all rights over target shares to be exercised, acquired, cancelled, rolled over or allowed to lapse. For more information, see Practice Note: Private company transactions—share

Delivering exceptional client care is something most law firms aspire to, but few manage to consistently achieve. That’s no poor reflection on the firms involved, but rather an indication of just how tricky it can be to get client care right. This Practice Note considers how law firms can deliver exceptional client care. It covers: • why client care matters • what the regulators require • how to understand the needs of the client • how to build strong client relationships • measuring client satisfaction • handling complaints on the front-line Why client care matters Client care refers to how you interact with and serve your clients. It encompasses everything from communication to meeting their needs and ensuring satisfaction. It is a firm-wide commitment and everyone in your firm has an important role to play in client care, whether they are client-facing or not. Client care matters for many important reasons, including: • cost effective business development—retaining and growing your existing clients through delivering excellent client care is the cheapest way to increase your business • building

This How-to-guide provides practical guidance on how to design and manage group-level policies, controls and procedures under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), as amended. It sets out the MLR 2017 requirements, how to identify relevant group members, the extent to which the requirements apply to your own parent undertaking, how to deal with local law requirements, guidance around sharing customer due diligence (CDD) information with other parts of the group and other data protection considerations, and how to manage and communicate your group-level policies, controls and procedures. This How-to-guide reflects the requirements of the MLR 2017 as they apply to commercial organisations generally, and incorporates Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Guidance for the Legal Sector, which is applicable to law firms, and may also be helpful and/or represent good practice for other organisations. What are the requirements of the MLR 2017 in relation to group-level policies, etc? The MLR

This ‘How to’ guide sets out the steps needed to calculate an employee’s period of continuous employment under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996), including when the continuous period starts and ends, breaks in continuity and a change of employer. Why does continuity of employment need to be determined? The length of time for which someone has been continuously employed (also known as length of service) is important because: • there are some rights which a person only acquires after a particular period of continuous employment. For example, an employee must be continuously employed for: ◦ the qualifying period at the effective date of termination (EDT) to bring a standard claim for unfair dismissal (see Practice Note: Qualifying period for unfair dismissal) ◦ two years to be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment (see Practice Note: Entitlement to statutory redundancy payment) ◦ one month to be entitled to statutory minimum notice (see Practice Note: Statutory minimum notice) • compensation for breach of many of the statutory rights increases according to the length

This Practice Note provides a route map for determining domicile for jurisdiction purposes in proceedings before the courts of England and Wales. It is concerned with the specific jurisdictional rules, including those arising in civil, commercial, consumer and employment contexts. Different rules may apply in other contexts, including family proceedings. It explains the questions to ask when deciding whether to use the rules for individuals or the rules for corporations and other legal entities. It then links to detailed guidance on each route. The starting point is to identify the type of party whose domicile is being assessed. Different rules apply depending on whether the party is an individual or a corporation, company, LLP or other legal entity. It is also necessary to identify the jurisdiction regime being applied because the relevant test may differ between regimes. For detailed guidance, see Practice Notes: • Jurisdiction—determining an individual’s domicile • Jurisdiction—determining the domicile of a corporation or other legal entity When to use this Practice Note Use this Practice Note where it is necessary

This ‘How to’ guide sets out the issues for an employer to consider when determining whether a worker is entitled to be paid during sick leave and, if so, how much they should be paid. It also considers related issues and remedies. A worker who is unable to work because of sickness may still be entitled during their sickness absence to be paid: • statutory sick pay (SSP) under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (SSCBA 1992) and the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 (SSP (General) Regs 1982), SI 1982/894 (see: Whether an individual is entitled to be paid SSP below), and/or • contractual (or ‘occupational’) sick pay (see: Whether an individual is entitled to be paid contractual sick pay below) For detailed information on SSP and contractual sick pay, see Practice Note: Sick pay. The statutory rules in relation to SSP are notoriously complex. Practitioners may find it helpful to refer to HMRC’s Statutory Payments Manual for SSP, in addition to the information below. Whether

This Practice Note is a guide explaining ‘how to’ determine whether you are a data controller or processor under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (UK GDPR). It provides an overview of the meaning and scope of each role, a step-by-step framework for identifying whether you act in either capacity in relation to a processing activity, including guidance on its practical application and processor-specific considerations, and an explanation of the respective legal implications. A degree of familiarity with key data protection concepts is assumed, with key terms such as ‘personal data’ and ‘processing’ explained only to the extent relevant to determining whether an entity is acting as a controller or processor. For introductory information on data protection law, see Practice Note: Data protection law—new starter guide. The UK data protection law collection collates further general guidance on data protection law and is a recommended starting point for data protection research. Related topics such as the requirements applying to controller–processor

The Practice Note provides practical guidance on the determination of serious injury in safeguard investigations. Introduction The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Safeguards requires that a Member State may only impose safeguard measures if there is: • increased imports • due to unforeseen circumstances • under such conditions which cause or threaten to cause serious injury, or • to domestic producers of like or directly competitive products All four of these conditions must be met before an investigating authority may recommend that safeguard measures be imposed. For guidance on these conditions and the Agreement on Safeguards, see Practice Note: An introduction to the Agreement on Safeguards. For guidance on the application process, see Practice Note: How to apply for a safeguard investigation. Often the most problematic condition to fulfil is if the increased imports are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry. What constitutes serious injury? The Agreement on Safeguards states that serious injury means a significant overall impairment in the position of a domestic industry. The Appellate

This Practice Note provides practical guidance on determining the export price in anti-dumping investigations. It provides practical guidance on using the actual export price and the constructed export price. Introduction The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on the Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (the Anti-dumping Agreement) states that a product is dumped if the export price is less than the normal value. Thus, in the ordinary course of trade, the export price must be less than the normal value. It is therefore of vital importance that both the normal value and the export price of the specific product (referred to as the like product) are determined in order to evaluate if dumping in fact occurred. Usually, investigating authorities first determine the normal value of the like product. Indeed, Article 2 of the Anti-dumping Agreement also firstly deals with the determination of the normal value before it deals with the determination of the export price. For more guidance on dumping, the Anti-dumping Agreement and the like product, see