Employment

New reforms go some way towards filling employment law’s long-acknowledged statutory gap, writes Robert Hargreaves

Bereavement leave is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Writing in NLJ this week, Robert Hargreaves of York St John University explains how the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a day-one right to leave for a wider range of losses, alongside new provisions for pregnancy loss and bereaved partners

Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes

Old caselaw gets a modern makeover: Ian Smith runs through secondment arrangements, multiple reasons for dismissal, & an appeal unlike any other

A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law

The growing use of ethics bonus clauses in footballers’ employment contracts demands sophisticated drafting to avoid costly litigation, writes Dr Estelle Ivanova

A former Commerzbank analyst has been sentenced to eight months in prison for lying during an employment tribunal hearing

Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’

Volunteer workers, capability dismissals, & costs decisions with a sting in the tail: Ian Smith combs through the latest employment headlines

Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first