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Employment law brief: 8 August 2025

08 August 2025 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8128 / Categories: Features , Employment , Tribunals
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Before heading to his beach hut, Ian Smith takes a whirlwind tour through cases dealing with time travel, judicial recusal & long term temps
  • The Court of Appeal in Lutz v Ryanair DAC confirmed that long-term arrangements (eg five years) can still be considered ‘temporary’ under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, reinforcing earlier case law and guidance on the term ‘permanent’.
  • In Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Taylors Services Ltd, the Court of Appeal ruled that travel time from home to work via employer-provided transport does not count as ‘working time’ under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, unless specific exceptions apply.
  • Recent decisions offer important clarification on handling time limit issues at preliminary hearings and judge recusal applications, reaffirming the established Porter v Magill test for bias and rejecting arguments for a lowered threshold.

Two Court of Appeal cases in the last month have addressed and hopefully resolved two well-known issues in employment law—namely the meaning of ‘permanent’ in the law on agency workers

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team

NEWS
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
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