header-logo header-logo

Employment law brief: 7 March 2019

07 March 2019 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7831 / Categories: Features , Employment
printer mail-detail

In this month’s employment brief, Ian Smith examines the long shadow cast by the infamous ‘gay cake case’ & takes a look at some exceptions to the unfair dismissal rule

  • Automatic unfair dismissal: a gap in the protection?
  • Automatic unfairness again: this time on a TUPE transfer.
  • Freedom to hold a belief—but whose belief?
  • What is ‘an email’?
  • Two cases this month have concerned the exception rather than the rule in unfair dismissal law: namely where the dismissal is automatically unfair because it comes into an especially protected category. Not only are these categories important in themselves, they are also (like patriotism for the scoundrel) the last refuge of the claimant without two years’ qualifying employment. The third case considered here shows clearly the effect of the Supreme Court decision in the Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and others [2018] UKSC 49, [2018] All ER (D) 43 (Oct) case. The fourth case raises the sort of question that lawyers just love : what is an email?

    If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
    If you are already a subscriber sign in
    ...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

    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
    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
    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
    Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
    Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
    back-to-top-scroll