Weekly Issue 36 - July 1999

Look smart - casuals have rights too

Convey and Others v Saltire Press Ltd and Anderson Key Printers Ltd

The Court of Session in Scotland has upheld an Employment Appeal Tribunal (Scotland) ruling that 11 "casual" newspaper printers were employees and so entitled to protection under the Employment Rights Act 1996. In a GPMU backed case run by Thompsons, the court also upheld the earlier ruling by the Employment Tribunal.

Time is on my side

Schultz v Esso Petroleum Co Ltd (1999) IDS Brief 636

The Court of Appeal has reached a landmark ruling which could herald a different approach to unfair dismissal time limits by the judiciary. Courts have applied the rule strictly against late claims, but in Schultz the court took a different and more liberal approach

Continuity announcement

Lassman and others v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry [1999] ICR 416 (EAT)

The Continued Uncertainty surrounding the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) means there are often disputes over whether there is a transfer or whether the employees are redundant. This sometimes means the employees receive payments described as "redundancy payments", where it is subsequently determined or agreed that TUPE applied to the transaction.

Blow the whistle - but not too loud and only certain tunes

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

At long last workers have been given a degree of legal protection for whistleblowing. The Public Interest Disclosure Act came into force on 1 July 1999.

Collecting terms from union agreement

City of Edinburgh Council v Brown [1999] IRLR 218

Confronting racism

Sidhu v Aerospace Composite Technology Limited
IDS Brief 637 May 1999 (18.3.99 675/98)