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07 February 2019 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7827 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 7 February 2019

Ian Smith serves up a turbo-charged, non-biased update on recent case law & substantive procedural matters

  • ASDA Stores (1): the comparison point. ASDA Stores (2): the procedural point.
  • Extension of time for appealing to the EAT: computer problems and ill health.
  • Apparent bias at ET hearing.
  • Much of the case development in recent employment law has concerned mainstream substantive matters such as employment/worker status and contractual and statutory rights on dismissal. However, for a change the four cases (three Court of Appeal and one Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)) considered this month show that other substantive areas and procedural matters must not be overlooked, even if they may seem at times to have gone to sleep. The first two concern the same litigation—namely the ‘ASDA cases’ on equal pay—the third is a Court of Appeal case on extension of time for appealing to the EAT, and the fourth is an EAT case on when robust exchanges between Bench and Bar do and (more importantly) do not constitute apparent

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    MOVERS & SHAKERS

    Foot Anstey—Jasmine Olomolaiye

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    Investigations and corporate crime expert joins as partner

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    Taylor Wessing—Stephen Whitfield

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    NEWS
    The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
    Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
    The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
    A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
    Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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