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08 February 2018 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7780 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 8 February 2018

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Ian Smith takes some time out to get serious about the trajectory of pension litigation, unfair dismissal & injury to feelings damages

  • Pension equality: macro issues at a micro level?
  • Unfair dismissal of a fixed-term employee.
  • Tribunal jurisdiction to construe a contract.
  • Injury to feelings damages available in all detriment cases.

What a way to treat a distinguished High Court judge in his retirement. There was Sir Alan Wilkie sitting harmlessly at home watching Escape to the Country when agents of the state broke in and put a chloroform mask over him, so strong that he only woke up a day later shackled to the judge’s chair in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and made to hear the joined appeals in two cases of such complexity that they evoke in any readers the prescient statement of Monty Python’s Professor Gumby —‘My brain hurts’. The cases are Lord Chancellor v McCloud UKEAT/0071/17 and Sargeant v London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority UKEAT/0116/17, both of which constituted major test cases

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Commercial firm strengthens real estate disputes team with associate hire

Switalskis—three appointments

Switalskis—three appointments

Firm appoints three directors to board

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Six promoted to partner and one to legal director across UK and Ireland offices

NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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