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14 January 2021 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7916 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment Law Brief: 15 January 2021

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Ian Smith takes a leap into the new year reporting on two important statements of principle & an adventurous challenge
  • How to identify ‘the employer’ in a complex case.
  • Another ruling against wider rights for agency workers.
  • Does the law on interim relief need to be changed?

Three significant decisions of the EAT (one by the President and two by Mr Justice Cavanagh) were reported in the dying days of last year. The first two contain important statements of principle on fundamental questions which have hitherto had surprisingly little by way of authoritative treatment by the courts, namely (1) how to tell who is ‘the employer’ in a case of complex dealings and (2) how extensive (or otherwise) are the rights given to agency workers by statute? The third case is not a statement of principle, but rather an adventurous challenge to the legality of the absence of any remedy of interim relief in discrimination law; the case is to go before the Court of Appeal to consider

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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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