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02 September 2020 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7900 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Employment law brief: 4 September 2020

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Ian Smith leaves his beach hut to take shelter from the wind & consider three cases covering common ground…but each with a peculiar twist
  • Calculation of damages for wrongful dismissal.
  • When is it reasonable to dispense with procedures?
  • Re-engagement and lack of trust and confidence.

The three cases considered this month have one thing in common, namely that they all concern well travelled areas of basic employment law, but have a peculiar twist to them. The first concerns the venerable law on damages for wrongful dismissal, but with the twist of arising under a fixed-term sports contract with a most peculiar provision on notice. The second concerns the position in unfair dismissal law of a dismissal without going through applicable disciplinary procedures, usually a complete no-no, but here held to be fair. The third (also as it happens in a sports context) concerns the law on re-engagement and how far an employer can oppose it on the grounds of lack of trust and confidence (arguably a feature of

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NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
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
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
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
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