Ian Smith explains why employment law has captured the nation’s heart & headlines
What has been noticeable about this last month’s action on the employment law front has been the amount of column inches it has produced in the press, in spite of the election coverage. The best example of this is the first case reported here—on its legal face a relatively straightforward point (on which leave to appeal was refused), but in its wider public discussion seeming to be a new Reformation, pitching the state against organised religion. Fortunately, perhaps, burning heretics would now be too wasteful of fuel and leave too large a carbon footprint to be socially acceptable. The second and third cases concern industrial action (always good for column inches), but with very different outcomes. The fourth case reported is much more “law” (the kind we like, as a kind of comfort blanket) but showing that you only resolve one point on a topic like constructive dismissal (ie that the range of reasonable responses test is not to be allowed to infest this form of dismissal—see Buckland v Bournemouth
