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09 May 2019 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7839 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 9 May 2019

Ian Smith cleans up the latest tribunal cases & considers the importance of acting in time & the difficulty of washing off reputational harm

  • Potential equal pay arrears can be claimed as a guaranteed debt.
  • Extension of time and the old fees regime.
  • Striking out in the case of a litigant in person.
  • Restricted reporting orders and individual respondents.
  •  

    Of the four cases considered this month, only one concerned a point of substantive law, namely whether potential arrears under an ongoing equal pay claim can be claimed on the employer’s insolvency from the secretary of state as a guaranteed debt; the Court of Appeal has upheld in full the earlier important Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision on this unusual, abstruse but possibly important point. The other three cases concerned procedural matters of a wide scope, covering extensions of time based on the effects of the old fees regime, the exercise of an employment tribunal’s (ET’s) strike-out power in the case of a litigant in person, and the perennially

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    MOVERS & SHAKERS

    Cripps—Radius Law

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    Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

    Switalskis—Grimsby

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    Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

    Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

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    NEWS
    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’
    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
    Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
    A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
    A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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