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Employment law brief: 7 August 2020

05 August 2020 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7898 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Before signing off for the summer break, Ian Smith tackles some small but mighty points of interpretation

In brief

  • How long is short?
  • Notice withdrawn…or not?
  • Accommodation deductions: a difficult precedent.
  • Has the employee affirmed the contract after employer repudiation?
  • Bringing a claim as a matter of principle.

This month’s Brief contains five recent cases, all of which concern short but important points of interpretation—when is an agency-provided worker’s engagement ‘temporary’? When can notice of termination be withdrawn? What is the position of an accommodation deduction for national minimum wage (NMW) purposes where the accommodation is provided by a third party? How does the concept of affirmation of employer behaviour apply when the employee has appealed? Can an ex-employee bring an unfair dismissal claim, even if there is no chance of monetary compensation if successful? Four of the cases provide welcome clarifications, but the NMW case has to be read with caution and arguably fires a shot across the bows of any employer providing accommodation for workers through

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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

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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
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