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Small businesses risk charges of professional negligence

Published on 22 Feb 2010 under category: legal

Small businesses could be putting themselves at risk of litigation and workplace disputes because of their lack of knowledge about employment law.

More than a third of small businesses do not think employment law obligations are relevant to their work, according to new research.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills found in a survey of over 300 small business owners that 20 per cent are not entirely confident that they are acting correctly on employment law.

According to the findings, women are more careful that they are up to date with changes, though they 'worry more that they will get it wrong'.

Only 38 per cent of men surveyed considered it important to be au fait with legal changes, in comparison to over half (54 per cent) of women.

Despite the different attitudes among men and women, almost half overall (42 per cent) did think it was 'important' to be aware of employment laws.

Over a quarter of employers (28 per cent) thought they were too busy to keep themselves up to date with new laws.

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