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Employment law brief: 14 August 2026

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Three hundred briefs in, our treasured author & Harvey enthusiast, Professor Ian Smith, has a lot to shout about from the employment coalface
  • Reviews the latest Employment Rights Act 2025 regulations ahead of the next phase of implementation in October.
  • Analyses four recent appellate decisions on restraint of trade, the right to be accompanied, harassment under the Equality Act 2010, and the scope of employment tribunal decision-making.

Legislation changes are hotting up in the run-up to the next major phase in bringing into force the Employment Rights Act 2025 in October. In the last month we have had complex regulations on access for trade unions to workplaces, the lowering of time limits for employment tribunal (ET) actions and extending the permissible forms of trade union ballots.

On the case law front, the four cases considered here cover a wide range. The first is a Court of Appeal case on restraint of trade; usually, such cases tend to be merely factual examples of very old and established

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Penningtons Manches Cooper—Gary Walsh

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