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03 March 2021 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7923 / Categories: Features , Employment , Tribunals
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Employment law brief: 5 March 2021

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Having your cake & EATing it: Ian Smith provides some food for thought
  • Future implications of the Supreme Court’s Uber judgment.
  • Broad issues of policy that arise when two protected characteristics clash.
  • Disclosure and inspection—the test to be applied.
  • Procedure at the hearing—admissibility of similar fact evidence.

The big news in recent weeks has, of course, been the decision of the Supreme Court in Uber BV and others v Aslam and others [2021] UKSC 5, [2021] All ER (D) 89 (Feb), upholding the Court of Appeal’s finding of worker status for gig economy Uber drivers, and also holding that they have that status (for the purposes of the national minimum wage, working time holiday entitlements and whistleblowing claims) for the whole time that their booking app is on. The case is dealt with elsewhere—specifically in Charles Pigott’s NLJ update next week—but one comment may be made here. The decision has been widely reported in the press with speculation not just as to its

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

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
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
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’ 
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