header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Tesco, misconduct & restrictions on belief

18 October 2024
Issue: 8090 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Tribunals , Terms&conditions , Discrimination
printer mail-detail
193153

It’s not often you get a Supreme Court decision in employment law, writes professor & barrister Ian Smith in this week’s NLJ

Smith, of Norwich Law School, UEA, dives into the issues of fire and rehire in the recent Tesco Stores v USDAW case, as well as three other recent cases for further exploration in his employment law brief.

Smith writes: ‘The judgment serves a useful function in approving the ‘PHI [permanent health insurance] cases’ (as we know and love them, holding that if extensive sickness cover is promised, the employer cannot later try to wriggle out of it) and confirming that the basic principle behind them can apply more generally.’

He also covers cases on the overlap between incapability and misconduct in unfair dismissal, where a charity worker threatened to punch someone in the head; restrictions on expression of religion or belief, where a teacher misgendered a pupil; and the question of whether a belief is worthy of respect, where an employee expressed the view that Muslims should be deported.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll