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Employment law brief: 9 January 2020

08 January 2020 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7869 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Ian Smith gets on his bike post-Christmas to deliver a welcome refresher course for employment geeks & those with a general interest
  • Is a courier a ‘worker’ and where are the limits of whistleblowing protection?
  • The legal status of a tribunal and how the non-technical approach to early conciliation can disadvantage the claimant, not just the respondent.

Given the result of the general election, it is now not urgent for employment lawyers to re-read the classic texts and dig out old law school notes to remind themselves what a trade union is and just what can be lawfully done in the course of industrial action. Instead, this first column of 2020 concentrates on two substantive issues of individual employment law (is a courier a ‘worker’ and where are the limits of whistleblowing protection?) and two procedural issues (the legal status of a tribunal and how the non-technical approach to early conciliation can disadvantage the claimant, not just the respondent).

Legal status of motorbike couriers

With the appeal

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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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