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Employment law brief: 13 May 2022

13 May 2022 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7978 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Relationships matter, says Ian Smith. And nowhere more so than in modern employment law which grapples with some of the more painful aspects of working life
  • The relationship between mutual agreement and taking a redundancy offer.
  • The relationship between the last straw doctrine and use of an internal grievance procedure.
  • The relationship between the duty to make reasonable adjustments and unfair dismissal.
  • The relationship between subjective belief and reasonableness in harassment law.

There is a theme to the four cases considered this month, which is relationships. For once (at the moment) this is not about various fumblings (with persons or tractors) after extended drinks in Parliamentary bars, but within particular areas of modern employment law, namely mutual agreement/ redundancy offers, the last straw doctrine/use of grievance procedures, the duty to make reasonable adjustments/unfair dismissal and subjective belief/reasonableness in harassment cases.

Mutual agreement & redundancy

The question whether an employment has been terminated by agreement (hence no dismissal and no action for unfair dismissal) has raised several important issues

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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