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12 July 2007 / Elliot Gold , Alastair Hodge
Issue: 7281 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Coming off the rails

Flaws in statutory grievance and disciplinary procedures mean cases may have to be reheard, say Alastair Hodge and Elliot Gold

Lawyers and judges, one presumes, take the train just like everyone else. So we should all know how complicated and awkward the ticket system can be. It is easy to know where one wants to go. Finding the right ticket to ride, however, can be another matter. With this thought in mind, Parliament, in its wisdom, appears to have brought the same simplicity and elegance to the employment tribunals in the form of the statutory grievance and disciplinary procedures. We all know that a claimant wants to take the train to the tribunal. The problem, however, is which of the various types of ticket they have to purchase. And also, whether the government is trying to price them off the trains altogether.

Lawrence v Prison Service
 

In Lawrence v Prison Service [2007] UKEAT/630/06, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) started its judgment by declaring that the appeal raised “yet again a problem

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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