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10 October 2025 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8134 / Categories: Features , Employment , Discrimination , Tribunals , Limitation
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Employment law brief: 10 October 2025

231935
Employment tribunal litigation is an adversarial business: Ian Smith spars with the importance of proper pleadings, time limits in discrimination cases & novel anonymity claims
  • Recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decisions highlight procedural issues in employment litigation, including time limits in discrimination claims, the importance of properly pleading a case, and the rules around anonymity orders.
  • Key rulings clarified the distinction between continuing acts vs one-off events, reinforced the claimant’s responsibility to plead their case, and extended the scope of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 to tribunal proceedings.

One aspect of the recent case law on employment law, fully reflected in this month’s brief, is the preponderance of cases on matters of procedure. Cases on substance of course crop up, but are often just examples of well-established rules or guidelines, some going back anything up to 40 years ago.

While it is important not to give these an importance that they do not merit by reporting them—if only to retain an element of sanity for

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

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
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’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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