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Employment law brief: 15 June 2007

14 June 2007 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7277 / Categories: Features , Employment
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The dismissal conundrum >>
The rules on “without prejudice” privilege >>
Maternity absentee returning to the “same job” >>

Three very different areas of employment law are worthy of mention this month. The first is a very old conundrum on the meaning of “dismissal”. The second is the application in employment law of the rules on “without prejudice” privilege. The third is the meaning of a maternity absentee returning to the “same job”, on which curiously we have never before had a decision at appellate level.

When is it a dismissal?

The question of how an employment terminated—dismissal or resignation?—was subject to much discussion in early case law during the Cretaceous Period of employment law. Did he jump or was he pushed? On a mundane level, this can arise where all that happens is that the parties swear mightily at each other and part; in such a case, the test, in legal language, is who was the f-offor and who was the f-offee. There is, however, an inherently more difficult version where the

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Hugh James—Phil Edwards

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Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Ceri Morgan, knowledge counsel at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP, analyses the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd, which reshapes the law of fiduciary relationships and common law bribery
The boundaries of media access in family law are scrutinised by Nicholas Dobson in NLJ this week
Reflecting on personal experience, Professor Graham Zellick KC, Senior Master of the Bench and former Reader of the Middle Temple, questions the unchecked power of parliamentary privilege
Geoff Dover, managing director at Heirloom Fair Legal, sets out a blueprint for ethical litigation funding in the wake of high-profile law firm collapses
James Grice, head of innovation and AI at Lawfront, explores how artificial intelligence is transforming the legal sector
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