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19 July 2007
Issue: 7282 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 20 July 2007

APPARENT BIAS >>
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND RACE DISCRIMINATINON >>
DISFIGUREMENT AND DISABILITY >>

One of the recommendations of the Gibbons Report, which favoured repeal of the statutory procedures, was to “simplify employment law”. In fact, work on this has already been started in what used to be the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), along with a review of discrimination law with a view to having one, consolidated piece of legislation. While we can all say “amen” to this particular prayer, it remains to be seen how thoroughly this can be carried out in practice. One suggestion might be simply to pass legislation repealing every fourth word in the current statute law, on the basis that it would then be 25% shorter but 100% as unintelligible.

Of course, the first simplification is to get rid of the statutory procedures and apparently (to its credit) the DTI’s successor is standing firm against any backsliding views in the consultation that perhaps they were not so bad after all, and sticking with the Gibbons line. As an

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Commercial firm strengthens real estate disputes team with associate hire

Switalskis—three appointments

Switalskis—three appointments

Firm appoints three directors to board

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Six promoted to partner and one to legal director across UK and Ireland offices

NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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