header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Spring into employment law reform

19 April 2024
Issue: 8067 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Disciplinary&grievance procedures
printer mail-detail
168689
It’s April and it’s raining statutory reforms to employment law. In this week’s NLJ, barrister and emeritus professor Ian Smith wades through the latest regulations, including on flexible working, carer’s leave, parental leave and the domestic worker exemption

Smith comments that implementation of these statutory reforms ‘keeps getting later and closer to the wire’ with one commencement order ‘only published on Good Friday… many years ago, that might have been considered blasphemous, meriting the burning at the stake of the official concerned, but we have moved on from that.’

And there’s more. Smith also tackles a trio of notable cases. Two of these cover whistleblowing while the third concerns dismissal due to alleged breakdown of trust and confidence.

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