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Spinning a yarn

12 August 2010 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7430 / Categories: Features , Child law , Employment
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Ian Smith reports on dangerous maxims, rumours & suspicion

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less”. The first case reported this month shows how dangerous that well known maxim can be for an employer, with apparently little scope for withdrawal of a dismissal that the employer decides was not really intended. This is a modern spin on a longstanding problem in employment relations. Similarly, the second case concerns a longstanding conundrum about dismissal not for proved misconduct but because of rumour and suspicion; the twist here is that it arose in an area of modern concern (child abuse) where, as the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) pointed out sharply, the desire to do “everything to stamp it out” can potentially lead under normal employment law rules to great injustice to those falling under suspicion.

The meaning of words

The question whether language is sufficient to constitute a termination has long proved troublesome. The most obvious problem

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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
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, 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
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
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
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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