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19 April 2024 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8067 / Categories: Features , Employment , Disciplinary&grievance procedures
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Employment law brief: 19 April 2024

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April is surely the cruellest month for employment lawyers, contends Ian Smith as he wades through a deluge of statutory changes & a trio of cases
  • Sets out this month’s statutory changes, which include the coming into force of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 and the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024.
  • Discusses in detail three recent cases—two on whistleblowing, and one on applying unfair dismissal in the context of allegations of breakdown of trust and confidence.

When TS Eliot wrote that April is the cruellest month, it is possible that he was not thinking directly of employment lawyers trying to keep up to date with our subject. But he might well have done. This April has seen a continuation of the current avalanche of statutory changes. The first day of the month saw the increases of the national living wage (extended to all those over 21) and the national minimum wages, plus the revocation of the domestic worker exemption, which had caused problems of interpretation. However, that was

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