header-logo header-logo

13 June 2025
Issue: 8120 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Tribunals , Whistleblowing
printer mail-detail

NLJ this week: Incomplete documentation, ‘bad apples’ & vicarious liability in whistleblowing

222357
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

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
back-to-top-scroll