Ian Smith explains the importance of facts & keeping schtum
- Immigration cases and the need still for fair procedure.
- Dealing with outstanding disciplinary matters in references
- Deductions from wages: what is properly payable in zero-hours contracts?
The most newsworthy development in the last month was, of course, the decision of the Supreme Court in Pimlico Plumbers Ltd v Smith [2018] UKSC 29, [2018] All ER (D) 65 (Jun). It was greeted with delight by the ex-plumber, and incandescence by the owner of Pimlico Plumbers; however, it is likely to have been greeted by most employment lawyers with a vague sense of disappointment. Some of the extensive media coverage of it supposed that it was an important case on the ‘gig economy’, but it is not (for that we await the decision of the Court of Appeal in the Uber case); it is primarily a case on the good old casual worker issue—self-employed or not? The twist here has been that the alternative to self-employment has been worker status, not employee status.
The court’s judgment was given by Lord Wilson
