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NLJ this week: Restraint of trade, fear of Covid & meaning of ‘employee’

24 June 2022
Issue: 7984 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Covid-19
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In this week’s NLJ, employment barrister Ian Smith investigates a trio of unusual cases, including on the issue of when a court can directly enforce a valid restraint of trade clause against an ex-employee, (and what about their need to earn a living?)

Smith also covers the difference between an ‘employee’ in tax and an ‘employee’ in employment law, and whether an employee dismissed for their fear of coronavirus is protected under health and safety dismissal laws.

This third case is the first reported appellate decision on the issue. Smith writes: ‘There has been much speculation whether an employee dismissed for leaving work or, more particularly, refusing to come back to work, because of fears of contracting coronavirus could claim automatically unfair dismissal under the health and safety provisions of s 100(1)(d)–(e) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.’

Issue: 7984 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Covid-19
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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