Employment Law Seminar: Top tips on effective absence management and employment round-up

MMS Edinburgh, Quartermile One, 15 Lauriston Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9EP
5/10/2017 – 8:00AM to 10:00AM

Managing employee absence, whether short or longer term, is never far from the top of the HR manager’s remit.

Sickness has many guises and there is no one-size-fits-all approach for tackling workplace absences. Tactics for managing long-term absence often demands a different approach to that required for repeated short-term absences. October’s employment law breakfast seminar will tackle thorny issues which arise, including:

• Medical reports and what to do if an employee refuses consent
• Managing difficult or sensitive conversations with absent employees
• Keeping things moving when an employee calls in sick during a disciplinary process
• What to do when a return to work is not on the horizon – can you dismiss?

In addition, we will provide you with an update on the most important cases and legislative updates from recent months.

Agenda
0800 Registration & breakfast
0830 Seminar & discussion
0930 Discussion & refreshments
A further opportunity to chat with our speakers and network with other guests over refreshments
1000 Seminar close

Dates and locations
10 October – Glasgow
12 October – Aberdeen

Time is running out to be ready for MiFID II and IDD by the end of the year.

Although project teams will have had both of these Directives on the agenda for some time, many businesses will still be facing a rush to compliance – not least because at the time of writing industry have not received the full suite of publications that implement the Directives.

This seminar builds on the themes of our previous seminar on distribution, but with specific reference to the financial services sector. As such, as well as covering MiFID II and IDD, the seminar will include discussion of other legislation and initiatives impacting distribution channels in this sector, including from a competition law angle.

MiFID II
A recent survey contains the striking statistic that 85% of asset managers will not be compliant with MiFID II rules until the fourth quarter of 2017 or even later.

At MMS we have over the past year or so been able to participate in MiFID II project discussions in various capacities and identify the real issues that those affected are grappling with. Such issues include:

• suitability and appropriateness;
• best execution;
• product governance; and
• inducements and research.

We hope to provide attendees with a focused and practical insight into these issues to provide a path forward to ensure that the early 2018 implementation date can be met.

IDD
The IDD (Insurance Distribution Directive) is designed to improve EU regulation on the sale of insurance products and member states including the UK are required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the IDD by 23 February 2018. Discussion of the IDD will include requirements for insurance-based investment products, passporting rights, the registration process for intermediaries and organisational requirements for firms.

Other legislation and initiatives
This portion of the seminar will, at a minimum, cover competition and distribution channels and the FCA’s asset management survey. We are keeping a watching brief on other legislative developments that may impact on distribution channels and may comment on those developments in addition.

Location: MMS Edinburgh, Quartermile One, 15 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9EP
Date/Time: 31/08/2017 – 8:30AM to 10:30AM

Agenda
0830 Registration & breakfast
0900 Seminar & discussion
1000 Discussion & refreshments
A further opportunity to chat with our speakers and network with other guests over refreshments
1030 Seminar close

To find out more and book your place, click here.

Other Dates and Locations
London – 14 September

Commercial law firm Maclay Murray & Spens LLP has strengthened its financial services capabilities with the appointment of Carolyn Bell, as director of its financial services group in Edinburgh.

The former in-house managing legal counsel with Lloyds Banking Group and Aberdeen Asset Management joins the firm’s financial services group, comprising over 20 lawyers, including six partners, operating across the UK-wide practice.

Carolyn Bell has over ten years’ experience in the UK and overseas investment funds sector, including the merging of asset management businesses and providing advice on regulated and unregulated investment structures. Her main areas of practice are collective investment schemes, pooled investments and financial services regulatory work. She handles onshore schemes, including authorised and unauthorised unit trusts and limited partnerships and offshore schemes, such as trusts, open-ended companies and closed-ended funds. Carolyn also has broad experience of operational matters and outsourcing arrangements in the asset management industry.

Carolyn also undertakes general financial services work, including regulatory advice, structuring and marketing investment schemes.

Guy Norfolk, partner and head of MMS’ Financial Services Group, said: “Carolyn is a highly regarded investment funds lawyer and her appointment is in line with our strategy to further strengthen our financial services offering, at a time when we are advising on a number of major transactions in the asset management space. Her significant and broad experience covering the UK and overseas asset management sectors, coupled with her specialist expertise across insurance, pensions, private equity and wealth, will be a valuable addition to the our corporate division as a whole.”

Carolyn Bell added: “I am very excited by this opportunity to join the firm’s financial services group, which has established an impressive track record in the asset management and financial services sector.”

A member of the Law Society of England & Wales, Carolyn has 16 years of experience working within the highly regulated financial and asset management services sector in both private practice and in-house counsel roles. This includes ten years in London working in mergers and acquisitions with city law firm Hammonds, before moving to Scotland in 2008, eventually going in-house, first with Lloyds Banking Group and latterly as managing legal counsel with Aberdeen Asset Management.

Carolyn Bell is a non-executive director of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.