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22 March 2024
Issue: 8064 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Disciplinary&grievance procedures
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NLJ this week: Can draft code tackle fire & rehire?

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Remember the P&O fire and rehire scandal? A final draft of the statutory code on dismissal and re-engagement has now been laid before Parliament, Charles Pigott writes in this week’s NLJ

Pigott, professional support lawyer, Mills & Reeve, reviews the contents of the draft code, which was prompted by P&O’s firing of 800 seafarers without consultation in 2022. It is due to take effect in the summer.

He sets the code in context, writing that it ‘sits in an area occupied by a large number of overlapping legal provisions’, and highlights some shortfalls. As for what the draft code achieves, Pigott writes: ‘The key change is that the revised draft presents the steps an employer is required to take in a more logical order.’

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
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’
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