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Employment law brief: 7 December 2017

07 December 2017 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7773 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Ian Smith takes two steps forward, one back & niftily tidies up some loose ends

  • Carefully crafted documentation.
  • Backdating holiday pay where the employer has refused to make payment.
  • The burden of proof in discrimination cases—orthodoxy restored.

The first of two particularly newsworthy cases (potentially linked in their effects) discussed in this month’s brief is the decision of Judge Eady in the Uber BV v Aslam UKEAT/0056/17.

Certain drivers brought tribunal proceedings aimed at establishing ‘worker’ status for the purposes of rights to working time protection and the national minimum wage. Their contractual arrangements with Uber were carefully drafted to negate such legal liabilities. They were permitted to work for other organisations (though substitution was not allowed), had to look after their own vehicle and licensing and viewed themselves as self-employed for tax purposes; there was no uniform and no Uber logo for their cars, and the elements of control that existed were primarily those required by statutory regulation for any form of public vehicle hire.

The basic

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

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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