Employment law brief: 16 July 2021

• Reconsideration of the defence of illegality in employment cases.
• The application of the European Convention on Human Rights: arts 11 and 17.

The last month has been a busy one in both the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and the Court of Appeal on employment issues. The first case considered concerns a purely common law point on how the general doctrine of illegality is to be applied to employment cases. However, the other three cases concern the application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but with interestingly mixed results. In the second case, the Court of Appeal declined to apply Art 11 to help the Deliveroo riders and their union in claiming bargaining rights. On the contrary, in the third case the EAT relied at least in part on the little-used art 17, and in the fourth case the EAT held that Art 11 did apply in order to extend protection from union-related detriment