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13 June 2025
Issue: 8120 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Tribunals , Whistleblowing
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NLJ this week: Incomplete documentation, ‘bad apples’ & vicarious liability in whistleblowing

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Is there such a thing as a ‘bad apple’ principle in employment law? In this week’s NLJ, Ian Smith, barrister, emeritus professor of employment law at the Norwich Law School, UEA, covers four recent, important cases of value for practitioners

They span the requirement of causation in part-time worker less favourable treatment cases, and the best approach to incomplete documentation in an appeal. Smith’s employment law brief also covers vicarious liability of agents in whistleblowing cases and the position of job evaluation schemes in equal value cases.

On incomplete documentation, Smith writes that a 2023 amendment to the regulations ‘was to remedy the position whereby approximately a fifth of appeals to the EAT were in time but missing some documentation, taking up too much of the EAT’s time. The aim was therefore to relax the previous strictness in cases of partial failure to comply in a case where the appeal was otherwise in time… The holding of the Court of Appeal was that the EAT’s approach failed to give effect to this clear intent’. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Maryam Syed KC, Church Court Chambers

NLJ Career Profile: Maryam Syed KC, Church Court Chambers

From childhood dreams of the Bar to some of the country's most challenging cases, Maryam Syed KC explains why she has never stopped standing up for others

DAC Beachcroft—Richard Breavington, Rachel Ford & Daniel Guilfoyle

DAC Beachcroft—Richard Breavington, Rachel Ford & Daniel Guilfoyle

DAC Beachcroft significantly expands Cyber team, hiring three Cyber partners

Browne Jacobson—Professor Clive Kay

Browne Jacobson—Professor Clive Kay

Browne Jacobson appoints senior healthcare leader Professor Clive Kay as strategic adviser

NEWS
As family justice moves further away from the courtroom, collaborative law is emerging as an increasingly important route to resolving separation disputes
A busy period for employment law is producing important lessons for employers, employees and tribunals alike
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners

Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.

How forcefully can a litigant criticise a public authority before robust advocacy crosses the line into unreasonable conduct? 
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