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01 January 2009 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7350+7351 / Categories: Features , Discrimination
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Benefits & ageism

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Ian Smith contemplates some murky borderlines

The principal news in recent employment law has been the Employment Act 2008 receiving Royal Assent. The all-important provisions repealing the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures are to be brought into force by order, but the word on the street is that April 2009 is still the target date. With this in view, the other piece of news at this level is that the new ACAS Code of Practice No 1 (on discipline and grievance) has been published and is on the ACAS website (www.acas.org.uk)This is the finalised version which has now been put before Parliament for approval, again with April in mind.

However, there is one other piece of news of some interest, in relation to a particular case. There was reported in this briefi ng on 15 August (158 NLJ 7334, p 1162) the decision of the Court of Appeal in Allen v GMB [2008] EWCA 810, [2008] All ER (D) 207 (Jul) holding the union liable for indirect sex discrimination in not pursuing

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NLJ this week: Old rules, fresh warnings in employment law
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
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A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
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Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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