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Employment law brief: 14 March 2025

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Good things come in threes: in this month’s employment brief, Ian Smith rounds up a triple whammy from the Employment Appeal Tribunal on crossed wires, application errors & misconduct
  • Employee liability for inaccuracy in an application.
  • The role of an employment tribunal in misconduct cases.
  • Mistaken belief in resignation can be an SOSR dismissal.

Three Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) cases in the last month have made significant additions to our little subject (!). The first resurrects a point that had gone to sleep for 16 years, concerning the legal implications of inaccuracies in an individual’s application form; the second declines to extend the categories of cases where an employment tribunal (ET) should investigate a point off its own bat, even if not raised by a party; and the third gives guidance for the first time on cases where the employer has terminated the employment in the genuine but mistaken belief that the employee has in fact resigned. This last one is of particular interest

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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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