Can’t Buy Me Love

For many years I worked in house for an entrepreneur.

Whilst we didn’t always agree on things, we had a lot of fun, or at least I did.

My favourite game was where I told him what the law was, he told me his way around it and I had 10 seconds (ok perhaps 12) to come up with a reason why his way wouldn’t work.  It was a cross between fencing and chess.  Speed and tactics, or you’d lose an ear, metaphorically speaking.

I learned a huge amount from him about how business really works and what clients really want.  They don’t want to know what the law says, they want to know what they can and cannot do in practice.  It wasn’t about avoiding legal obligations, it was about commercial realities.

Sometimes, however commercial your realities, courts get in the way.  This was the case in a recent Tribunal matter, where an employer was trying to swap legal rights for money.  Whilst commercially, you may say it makes no difference whether the employee had more money or more holiday time so long as they were properly reimbursed for their work, the Tribunal disagreed.  If someone who works for you is entitled to time off, or a lunch break, or any other perk, you can’t make them take money in lieu.  Even if they agreed to it, I’d be cautious.

Apparently there are some things that money can’t buy.

Kleyman and Co Solicitors.  The full service law firm.  Sharing the love.