Legal News

Dyson’s bid to contest a Court of Appeal ruling “does not raise a point of law of general public importance”, states an order dated 1 May 2025 and approved by the UK Supreme Court on 6 May 2025. On 13 December 2024, the Court of Appeal determined that England was plainly the proper forum to hear the claim brought by 24 migrant labourers. That decision reversed the High Court’s view, where a judge had found the dispute bore strong connections to Malaysia and ought to proceed there. The workers, originating from Nepal and Bangladesh, allege they were trafficked from their homelands. They report having endured exploitative and abusive working and living conditions while engaged by a third‑party supplier providing products and components to the Dyson Group, most widely recognised for its vacuum cleaners. The succinct Supreme Court order records that...

Cable News International Inc v Ms. Saima Bhatti , [2025] EAT 63 Judge Timothy Kerr dismissed the appeal brought by Cable News International Inc. He concurred with Employment Judge Pavel Klimov that reporter Saima Mohsin, whose legal name is Saima Bhatti, is entitled to pursue claims for unfair dismissal, equal pay and discrimination against the respondent, internationally recognised as ' CNN'. The appellate tribunal recorded that the finding that the claimant’s employment bore a sufficient connection with Great Britain from [the beginning of March 2017] onwards rested on his evaluation of the evidence, and that he neither erred in principle nor adopted a wrong approach to the evaluative assessment of that evidence, as set out by the tribunal......

In this issue: Cross-border and jurisdiction: CNN v Bhatti— EAT says claims anchored to Great Britain once the journalist returned to London; Brussels I (recast) no help to a non‑ EU domiciled employer; flexible approach to tribunal service upheld. Pay: Low Pay Commission seeks evidence on 2026 NMW/ NLW, including affordability of £12.50–£12.80 NLW, impacts of 2025 rise, effects on younger workers, and lowering the age threshold (closing 30 June 2025). Tax: HMRC refines CEST—simpler wording, in‑tool guidance where special rules apply, and added links. Whistleblowing: Handa—detriment claims against external HR consultants struck out; no agency liability for dismissal within their limited remits. Prohibited conduct: Fasano—parent not agent for LTIP; amended condition justified. TUPE: ABC v Huntercombe—alleged vicarious liability for employees’ torts/human rights breaches does not transfer. Employment Tribunals: Manchester’s Alexandra House remains closed pending crash deck;...

In this issue: Horizon scanning Status and worker categories Immigration Employment contract Protected characteristics Whistleblowing Determining whether restrictions are enforceable Employment Tribunals New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Employment resources on Lexis+® Lex Talk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Horizon scanning CIPD publishes research warning of Employment Rights Bill's unintended consequences The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development ( CIPD) has released analysis indicating that several flagship provisions in the Employment Rights Bill ( ERB), now moving through the House of Lords, may unintentionally harm labour market outcomes. Drawing on the CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook – Winter 2024/25, the review examines proposals on unfair dismissal, a statutory probation period, ‘fire and rehire’, guaranteed hours, Statutory Sick Pay ( SSP), day one paternity leave and unpaid...

For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 As many employers have self-contained, lockable toilets and no transgender employees, a significant number are pausing for the Equality and Human Rights Commission ( EHRC) to publish summer guidance before laying down internal rules on who may use which facilities, lawyers noted. However, organisations that must offer changing areas for staff, or operate from older premises with banks of cubicles, urinals and shared sinks — typically larger public sector bodies — cannot simply wait to see what becomes standard practice. Missteps risk tensions at work and potential employment tribunal claims, specialists cautioned. Much turns on the make-up of the workforce and whether your staff are likely to be affected, said Audrey Williams, partner at Keystone Law. She added that the Supreme Court’s conclusion that transgender people do not have a legal...

What are the practical implications of this judgment? In Madu, the EAT examined whether applications for costs in discrimination cases ought to be handled differently from those in other types of claim. HHJ James Taylor indicated that the reply is both no and, often, yes: the legal criterion for awarding costs is uniform across all complaints, yet many discrimination and analogous claims have characteristics that demand particular attention when applying that test, and policy considerations may specifically influence such cases. This judgment reinforces that: as a matter of public policy, the bar for obtaining a costs order under the ET Rules 2024, SI 2024/1155 is set high. The ET regime is intended to promote access to justice, including for employee claimants seeking remedies against employers ETs should take account of the challenges faced by...

On the morning of 17 April 2025, EHRC chair Kishwer Falkner said the regulator is ‘working at pace’ to deliver a refreshed code of conduct this summer, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that clarified transgender people do not have a legal entitlement to enter single‑sex spaces that match their chosen gender. In response to the judgment, legislators and employers have similarly been urged to revisit existing legal guidance and related policies. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, stated that the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010) — the principal anti‑discrimination statute — and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 ought to be examined to ensure they prevent discrimination and do not enable ‘social engineering’. ‘ These laws were written more than 20 years ago, when the world was different. A lot of people are trying to change what the law means,’...

In this issue: Status and worker categories — Whitehouse: ET allows reservist’s detriment claim under PTW Regs Pay — CSCS reform consultation ends; 2010 terms remain Tax — UT: locum urologist within IR35; HMRC April Employer Bulletin Protected characteristics — Supreme Court: Eq A ‘sex’ means biological; EHRC to update Data protection — ICO issues final UK GDPR anonymisation guidance Corporate governance — EU ‘ Stop the Clock’ sustainability deferral published Settlement — Updated Civil Service settlement forms replace 2019 Employment Tribunals — Manchester ET closed; new Practice Directions 21 May; AI guidance, Copilot Immigration — UK Expansion Worker: tougher ‘qualifying overseas link’; fee recoupment bans widened IRLR Highlights— May 2025 — Key EAT, ECt HR and CA rulings New and updated content — Practice Note: managing workplace temperature Dates for your diary — April– May 2025 legislation and hearings Trackers, New Q& As, Employment resources on Lexis+®, Lex...

Presidential Practice Direction on the Practice Directions on the Presentation of Claims, Responses and Statutory Appeals in England and Wales Presidential Practice Direction on the Practice Directions on the Presentation of Claims, Responses and Statutory Appeals in Scotland Practice Directions on the Presentation of Claims, Responses and Statutory Appeals On 28 March 2024, the two Presidents of the Employment Tribunals ( ET) released an interim practice direction (interim PD), coming into force on 6 April 2024, which described how responses should be lodged pending roll-out of the new digital case management system across all ET offices. This interim PD was designed to apply until fresh PDs governing the lodging of claims and responses commenced. Those new PDs had been slated to start on 1 October 2024, yet encountered several postponements whilst they awaited the formal approval of the Lord Chancellor......

Background This appeal concerns the Appellant’s challenge to the legality of statutory guidance from the Respondent, which treats a GRC confirming a person’s gender as female as bringing them within the Eq A 2010 definition of ‘woman’. The Gender Representation on Public Boards ( Scotland) Act 2018, an Act of the Scottish Parliament ( ASP 2018), sets targets to boost the share of women on public boards. Originally, ASP 2018 defined ‘woman’ to include those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment: individuals living as women and proposing to undergo, undergoing, or having undergone a process of gender reassignment. In 2022, following a challenge by the Appellant ( FWS1), the Inner House held that this statutory definition was unlawful, as it addressed matters beyond the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence. After FWS1, the Respondent published revised statutory guidance, which is now under...

What does the Guidance cover? The Guidance covers the following topic: Core principles of anonymisation and pseudonymisation The Guidance opens by affirming the core legal position: anonymised information lies beyond the reach of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( UK GDPR), whereas pseudonymised information does not. The ICO then explains how this plays out in practice and the advantages linked to each category of data. It frames anonymisation as a personal data minimisation exercise, and pseudonymisation as a means of mitigating risk. Anonymisation involves transforming data so that the individuals to whom it pertains are not, or are no longer, identifiable. Under the UK GDPR, the standard is ‘effective’ anonymisation—reducing the chance of a person being identified to a sufficiently remote level, thereby severing any link between the information and the individual. Merely removing direct...

George Mantides Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKUT 124 ( TCC) M delivered the services at issue to Royal Berkshire Hospital ( RBH) in 2013. In 2019, the First-tier Tax Tribunal ( FTT) determined that those services resulted in deemed earnings under the IR35 regime. The FTT also concluded that M’s work for a separate hospital did not fall within IR35. That latter finding was not appealed because both the FTT and the UT refused HMRC additional time to seek permission to appeal, HMRC having missed the prescribed deadline. The company challenged the FTT’s ruling concerning M’s services to RBH. In 2021, the UT found that the FTT had wrongly constructed the hypothetical contract between M and RBH by inserting terms (1) obliging RBH to......

Whitehouse v Ministry of Defence ET 1401357/2022. Employment Judge Adrian Hogarth, in a decision made on 4 April 2025 and released on 9 April 2025, dismissed the Ministry of Defence’s bid to strike out the claim brought by reservist Mr Whitehouse. The department had contended that members of the reserve forces fall expressly outside the scope of the Part-time Workers ( Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, SI 2000/1551, which confer parity of treatment with full-time staff. Judge Hogarth ultimately concluded that the reservist carve-out does not prevent Whitehouse from proceeding with his case. Whitehouse alleges he faced detriment for highlighting that part-time workers’ entitlement to equal treatment had been breached, he added. While the judge accepted the regulations can be read as excluding his grievances, he considered that express references to carrying out training and other voluntary obligations indicate the...

Rukhadze and others v Recovery Partners GP Ltd and another [2025] UKSC 10 Background This appeal concerns the fiduciary ‘profit rule’. Fiduciaries, including trustees and company directors, owe a duty of loyalty to their beneficiary or principal (the person for whom they hold or administer property, eg the company in the case of a director). That duty includes a requirement that, where a fiduciary derives a profit by virtue of their position, they must account for that gain to the principal, unless the principal has given fully informed consent. The respondents to this appeal are a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (to which the claims of another such company have been assigned) together with an English LLP. The individual appellants were engaged by the respondents and occupied roles of trust and responsibility (for example serving as directors), thereby owing fiduciary duties to them. In...

Businesses operating in Great Britain must stay course on DEI If you are based in Great Britain ( GB) and curtail DEI measures for your workforce here in reaction to the recent stance of the US Administration on DEI, you materially heighten the likelihood of unfavourable findings of discrimination against your organisation. For GB businesses, mirroring US companies by scrapping or diluting DEI commitments makes no legal sense within the existing GB framework. Should US jurisprudence track the current Administration’s line on ‘affirmative action’, it would simply bring the US into closer alignment with established GB law and practice. In GB, ‘positive action’ has never allowed race (or any other protected trait) to be used as a selection device to prefer applicants or candidates in recruitment or promotion, save for a narrow, seldom-invoked tie-break exception where contenders are genuinely evenly matched. US law has not...

Late last year, the Home Office issued a policy paper. It was triggered by a House of Lords committee review into the effect of MSA 2015. While the committee hailed MSA 2015 as pioneering, it emphasised that ‘the world has changed and best practice has moved on’. It urged government to introduce ‘proportionate sanctions’ for organisations that fail to comply with the Act’s obligations; most notably the annual requirement for companies to report on measures to identify and prevent modern slavery. The report also portrays a ‘current approach of no enforcement’ in relation to MSA 2015. Under the Act, businesses with turnover exceeding £36m must publish a yearly slavery and human trafficking statement. However, it does not set out what that statement must contain. The policy paper further notes that, although the Home Secretary can seek an injunction to enforce...

In this issue: Horizon scanning ESG and sustainability: employment issues Directors Pensions Tax Maternity, parents and carers Whistleblowing Bribery, modern slavery, tax evasion and fraud Employment Tribunals Immigration Dates for your diary Trackers New Q& As Employment resources on Lexis+® Lex Talk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Horizon scanning Employment Rights Bill: European Convention on Human Rights memorandum updated The Department for Business and Trade ( DBT) first issued the European Convention on Human Rights memorandum for the Employment Rights Bill ( ERB) on 10 October 2024. That document has been revised to take account of changes to the ERB made in the House of Commons—especially the insertion of new provisions—and to align clause numbering with the version laid before the House of Lords. The...

George Mantides Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2025] UKUT 124 ( TCC) The Upper Tribunal endorsed His Majesty's Revenue and Customs' ( HMRC) view that locum doctor George Mantides was, in reality, an employee of the Royal Berkshire Hospital ( RBH), emphasising important contrasts with his separate engagement at Medway Maritime Hospital ( MMH). Tribunal Judges Thomas Scott and Jonathan Cannan reasoned that, whereas the MMH terms would have included a narrowly defined right to substitution, the RBH arrangement called for Mr Mantides' own services and offered no substitution right at all. On that footing, the tribunal determined there was a sufficient framework of control for the RBH engagement to be characterised as a contract of employment......

Visa checks in zero-hours and gig sectors Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has backed a new duty for firms employing zero-hours and gig workers to verify visas, saying it will help create fair competition for the many compliant businesses. The sectors most affected include food delivery, courier operations, beauty salons and construction companies... However, lawyers caution that the forthcoming amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently before the House of Commons, could pose serious challenges for smaller firms unfamiliar with the shifting demands of immigration compliance... Fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker Potential temporary closure of the business Disqualification of company directors Prison sentences of up to five years for the worst offences Antonia Torr, a partner at Fladgate LLP, warned that right to work checks, though billed as...

M Rose Construction Ltd v The Pensions Regulator [2025] UKFTT 282 ( GRC) What are the practical implications of this case? Appreciating the effect of this decision will aid practitioners advising on clients’ ‘automatic enrolment’ obligations under the PA 2008, namely to place specified employees into a workplace pension scheme and fund contributions. The ‘duties start date’ is the point when the first member of staff begins work for the business. In this matter, that date was 1 July 2023, and the company had to submit information for every person employed on that date by making a declaration of compliance. Where a declaration is not completed within the stated timeframe, TPR will issue a ‘compliance notice’ to the employer. If the employer still fails to act on that compliance notice, TPR can issue a penalty notice requiring payment of the penalty and the...