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NLJ this week: Will tribunal fee proposals end in embarrassment (again)?

17 May 2024
Issue: 8071 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Employment , Tribunals
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Government proposals to resurrect employment tribunal fees—albeit at a modest rate compared to last time—could spectacularly backfire, ending in a second ‘unlawful’ ruling

In this week’s NLJ, Catrina Smith, Chair of the Legislative and Policy Committee of the Employment Lawyers Association, discusses the potential for a re-run of the high-profile Unison case of 2017.

Smith identifies a multitude of disadvantages for all concerned, not least the fact ‘the government has also acknowledged that the fee scheme will cost more to administer and implement than it will raise’. It didn’t work out well for the government in 2017, so why would ministers try again?

Ultimately, however, the people with most to lose should the proposals go ahead are employees and ex-employees with valid claims should they be deterred from bringing them by this extra financial hurdle.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Myers & Co—Jen Goodwin

Myers & Co—Jen Goodwin

Head of corporate promoted to director

Boies Schiller Flexner—Lindsay Reimschussel

Boies Schiller Flexner—Lindsay Reimschussel

Firm strengthens international arbitration team with key London hire

Corker Binning—Priya Dave

Corker Binning—Priya Dave

FCA contentious financial regulation lawyer joins the team as of counsel

NEWS
Social media giants should face tortious liability for the psychological harms their platforms inflict, argues Harry Lambert of Outer Temple Chambers in this week’s NLJ
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024—once heralded as a breakthrough—has instead plunged leaseholders into confusion, warns Shabnam Ali-Khan of Russell-Cooke in this week’s NLJ
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now confirmed that offering a disabled employee a trial period in an alternative role can itself be a 'reasonable adjustment' under the Equality Act 2010: in this week's NLJ, Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve analyses the evolving case law
Caroline Shea KC and Richard Miller of Falcon Chambers examine the growing judicial focus on 'cynical breach' in restrictive covenant cases, in this week's issue of NLJ
Ian Gascoigne of LexisNexis dissects the uneasy balance between open justice and confidentiality in England’s civil courts, in this week's NLJ. From public hearings to super-injunctions, he identifies five tiers of privacy—from fully open proceedings to entirely secret ones—showing how a patchwork of exceptions has evolved without clear design
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