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Employment Law Brief: 28 March 2008

27 March 2008 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7314 / Categories: Features , Tribunals , Employment
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Lapsed warning, redundancy, EU Industrial action

The last month has seen two Court of Appeal decisions on very basic issues of employment law that have been eagerly awaited. The first concerns the hot topic of the employment status (or, more appropriately, lack thereof) of a long-serving agency-supplied worker and the second concerns the status of an expired warning—can it be used for any purpose at all? Ironically, the third case considered here also addresses a nose-to-the grindstone issue for practical employment, but one on which there has been almost no reported case law, namely the legality of the common technique of effecting redundancies by sacking all the relevant staff and making them reapply for the jobs that are left.

Finally (possibly taking our cue from Oscar Wilde’s remark that we are all in the gutter but some of us look up at the stars) we raise our gaze from the squalor of domestic detail to the wonders and sunny uplands of EC Law and see a recent European Court

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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