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08 April 2022 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7974 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 8 April 2022

77721
Making history: Ian Smith performs a perfect loop-the-loop & serves up three significant Court of Appeal decisions

In brief

  • ‘Worker’ definition—no need for an irreducible minimum of obligation.
  • Detriment on union grounds does not extend to taking industrial action.
  • Directors/CEOs and employment status—the EU law angle.

Apart from the usual spate of annual changes in the run-up to the beginning of April (the increase of the various employment protection limits, the up-rating of the national minimum wage and relevant social security benefit, a review of the Vento scales for injury to feelings awards by the employment tribunal (ET) presidents and, this year, two replacement immigration law codes of practice for employers on the operation of the civil penalty scheme for employing illegal workers and how to avoid unlawful discrimination when using the system) this has been a relatively quiet month for employment case law in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). However, we have had instead three Court of Appeal cases.

The first two make important statements on historically difficult

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NEWS

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
In a striking financial remedies ruling, the High Court cut a wife’s award by 40% for coercive and controlling behaviour. Writing in NLJ this week, Chris Bryden and Nicole Wallace of 4 King’s Bench Walk analyse LP v MP [2025] EWFC 473
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