When providing an employee with shares, a company may either issue new shares to the employee or arrange for the transfer of existing shares from a shareholder. However, the practical and cost issues need to be considered in each case, particularly where it is intended that the employee pays nothing at all in order to acquire his or her shares. Using new issue shares A company is not permitted to allot newly issued shares for less than their nominal value, and this must be paid up in money or money's worth. This therefore presents a difficulty if the company is intent on requiring absolutely no payment from the employees for their shares. For these purposes, payment can take various forms, including an undertaking to pay the company cash at a future date (which, for example, is the approach taken where a nil paid share structure is used; see Practice

An employee may apply to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to pay the statutory redundancy payment out of the state guarantee fund (the National Insurance Fund) if they are unable to obtain the payment from their employer because either the employer refuses to pay or is insolvent. For further information, see Practice Note: Redundancy—insolvency and the state guarantee fund. Refusal to pay If the employer is solvent but refuses to pay, the employee will need to show that they have taken 'all reasonable steps' to obtain payment under section 166(1)(a) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996). For further information, see Practice Note: Redundancy—insolvency and the state guarantee fund—Employer's refusal. Employer insolvency Commentary: Insolvent employer: Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law [647]

Parents of a child (whether born to the parents or adopted) are entitled to take up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave to care for that child at any time before the child's 18th birthday. 18 weeks' leave may be taken in respect of each child. The leave may be taken by each parent. So, for example, where a mother and father both have responsibility for twins, each of them is entitled to 36 weeks of leave to care for the two children. Since 5 April 2015, parental leave may be taken at any time before the child's 18th birthday, irrespective of whether the child was born to the parents or adopted. For further information, see our Practice Note: Parental leave. It follows that: • where the employee changes employment during

Skilled Worker salary thresholds When a company with a Sponsor Licence wishes to sponsor an individual as a Skilled Worker, one of the key considerations is the salary. In order for the individual to score the required points for salary, they need to satisfy the following requirements: • that the salary offered is at or above the general salary threshold, and • that the salary offered is at or above the going rate for their Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2020 code The gross annual salary offered needs to be at least whichever is the higher of the general salary threshold

This Q&A takes account of the HMRC guidance for employers: Claim for your employees' wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as at 15 April 2020. For information on the updates to the HMRC guidance made on 4 April, 9 April and 15 April 2020, see the following News Analysis: • HMRC publishes updated employer and employee guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19) job retention scheme • HMRC publishes second update to employer and employee guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Job Retention Scheme, and • Treasury gives legal effect to Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and updates guidance a third time For information: • on how to determine which system of law is applicable to a contract of employment or employment relationship,

It is assumed that the general requirements in the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003), Schedule 5, Part 2, the company requirements in Schedule 5, Part 3 of ITEPA 2003 and the other requirements for the individual to be an eligible employee for EMI purposes as set out in Schedule 5, Part 4 of ITEPA 2003 are satisfied. Paragraphs 24 and 28 of Schedule 5, Part 4 of ITEPA 2003 provide that an individual is not an eligible employee in relation to the relevant company for EMI purposes if at the appropriate time they have a material interest in that company or, if that company is a parent company, in any member of the group. Paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 5, Part 1 of ITEPA 2003 provides that ‘the appropriate time’ is the time when the option is granted. Therefore,

There is, on the face of it, nothing to prevent an employer giving notice of termination, in accordance with statute and the contract of employment, to an employee who is on furlough under the coronavirus (COVID-19) job retention scheme (CJRS). See Practice Notes: • Statutory minimum notice • Contractual notice The CJRS is designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus. To date, information on the CJRS has been provided in the form of: • guidance for employers • guidance for employees  For information on which employees are covered by the scheme, see Practice Note: Coronavirus Job

The government published two sets of guidance on the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) on 26 March 2020: • guidance for employers: Claim for wage costs through the coronavirus job retention scheme, and • guidance for employees: Check if you could be covered by the coronavirus job retention scheme These were updated on 4 April, 9 April and 15 April, and on 15 April the government also published a Treasury Direction. For further information, see: • HMRC publishes updated employer and employee guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19) job retention scheme • HMRC publishes second update to employer and employee guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Job Retention Scheme, and • Treasury gives legal effect to Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and updates guidance a third time A woman who takes ordinary maternity

The information provided is insufficient to assess whether an employee qualifies to be granted an enterprise management incentives (EMI) option, as there are a number of different statutory tests for this, which all need to be satisfied at the time that the option is granted. These are set out in Schedule 5, Part 1 to the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003). Firstly, the individual must be an employee of either the company whose shares will be under the EMI option (the EMI company), or one of its qualifying subsidiaries. For these purposes, a qualifying subsidiary must be one where more than 50% of its ordinary share capital is beneficially owned directly or indirectly by the EMI company, and it must be under the control (as defined in section 995 of the Income Tax Act 2007) of the EMI company or another of its subsidiaries. There must also be no arrangements

If an employee resigns because the employer has breached the employee's contract in such a serious way that the employee is entitled to leave without giving notice, that employee has been constructively dismissed. A claim for constructive dismissal is usually a claim for breach of contract or wrongful dismissal. In addition, a constructive dismissal also amounts to a dismissal for the purpose of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and an employee may bring a claim for unfair dismissal even though the employee chose to end the contract by resigning, provided that the qualifying

There is nothing specifically preventing an employee who works part-time from participating in an enterprise management incentives (EMI) scheme, however, the issue arises where the part-time employment status of the employee prevents the individual from meeting the strict working-time requirements of an EMI scheme. There are strict working time requirements which must be satisfied in order to be granted EMI options. In summary, the average per week committed time the option holder must spend working for the EMI company or a member of its group (the parent and its 51% subsidiaries) is 25 hours a week, or, if less, 75% of the employee's

The right not to be unfairly dismissed is available to employees. The fact that an employee is on maternity leave makes no difference to their right to claim. Unfair dismissal requires that the employee has been dismissed. Where a limited-term contract terminates because the limiting event occurs without being renewed, eg the term in a fixed-term contract expires, that will amount to a ‘dismissal’ for the purpose of the right not to be unfairly dismissed. For further information, see: • Practice Notes: ◦ Definition of dismissal in unfair dismissal—Limited-term contracts ◦ Fixed-term employees—Ordinary unfair dismissal • Harvey DI [601]–[700] If there is a dismissal, the employer will be well-advised to ensure that: • there is a potentially fair reason for dismissal, and • in the circumstances the employer has acted reasonably in treating that reason as a sufficient reason for dismissal The