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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: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

Daniel Burbeary, office managing partner of Michelman Robinson, discusses launching in London, the power of the law, and what the kitchen can teach us about litigating

Joelson—Jennifer Mansoor

Joelson—Jennifer Mansoor

West End firm strengthens employment and immigration team with partner hire

JMW—Belinda Brooke

JMW—Belinda Brooke

Employment and people solutions offering boosted by partner hire

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
A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law
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