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Employment law brief: 11 December 2019

11 December 2019 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7868 / Categories: Features , Employment
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What makes people tick? Ian Smith signs off for the year with some sobering disclosures on motivation & revenge
  • Establishing ‘the reason’ for dismissal in an organisation.
  • Public interest and the claimant’s motivation.

The cases considered this month concern the law on protection of whistleblowers (as it happens, at the same time as the EU has produced a draft Directive on this issue, which hitherto has been purely a question of UK domestic law). The first, and most important, is the decision of the Supreme Court on how to determine the thinking/motivation of ‘the employer’ in an organisation, in particular where the dismissing manager has genuinely done so for another reason, but has been misled by another manager seeking revenge on the whistleblower. As will be seen, the significance of this case extends to other areas of unfair dismissal law. The second case is a decision of the Court of Appeal on the important but potentially difficult element of ‘public interest’ and the claimant’s motivation in making the disclosure(s)

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
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