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08 December 2023 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8052 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 8 December 2023

150651
Ian Smith (not pictured) sees out the year with some employment bangers
  • Casual workers—Art 11 relevant?
  • Partners are not employees of a business engaging the partnership.
  • Does use of employer’s internal procedures constitute affirmation of contract?

The key development last month was the awaited decision of the Supreme Court in the Deliveroo case. The decision of the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) that the riders were not workers in domestic law was not being challenged by this stage, reliance being placed instead on Art 11 of the European Convention. However, the result shows that, as in the past, arguments about the application of that article to the specific context of trade union rights can be one step forward and two steps back. The other two cases considered here concern two well-worn employment law conundrums (conundra?)—the legal position of partners and whether use of an employer’s internal procedures by a departing employee can ever be thrown back at them by the respondent employer as constituting affirmation of contract. The former is interesting

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
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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