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Sean Dempsey comments for HR Magazine - The state of the union: The future of IR

13 February 2017

Employment law Partner, Sean Dempsey has commented in an article for HR Magazine which discusses the following question: are trade unions really representing modern workers or do they need to change with the times?

Deliveroo defends union recognition application by demonstrating its riders are genuinely self-employed

15 November 2017

The Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC”) has rejected an application from the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (“IWGB”) for collective bargaining rights in respect of Deliveroo riders, in a case in which Lewis Silkin acted for Deliveroo.

Lewis Silkin acted for Deliveroo in its successful defence of an application for trade union recognition by the IWGB union

16 November 2017

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) wanted Deliveroo to recognise it for collective bargaining purposes in respect of riders in Camden and Kentish Town. The application before the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) was heard over four days in May and June 2017. The CAC held that Deliveroo riders were not “workers” for the purposes of employment law, but self-employed independent contractors, and therefore the application failed.

Trade union’s Deliveroo judicial review challenge fails

05 December 2018

The High Court (“HC”) has dismissed a judicial review challenge to a finding by the Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC”) that Deliveroo riders are not “workers”. The HC ruled that the riders are not in an “employment relationship” for the purposes of European law.

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal affirms employees’ unfettered statutory rights to be paid their entitlements

26 August 2020

In this Court of Appeal case of Xu Yi Jun v GF Capital (Hong Kong) Limited (CACV 502 & 577 / 2019), the Court considered whether an employer can withhold a bonus payment after the payment due date for reasons of alleged gross misconduct that had occurred prior to, and whether an employer can offset its unliquidated claim for damages against the bonus in legal proceedings.

'Owner-employee' plan poses unfair dismissal risk

10 October 2012

Steven Lorber outlines his concerns about the Chancellor's proposal for a new type of employment contract in a letter to the Financial Times.

How to divorce the EU, in three uneasy steps

05 May 2017

The European Council published its official guidelines for Brexit negotiations on 29 April 2017. Lewis Silkin reported on EU Council President Donald Tusk’s circulation of negotiation guidelines to EU leaders at the end of March 2017, and the newly published guidelines are consistent with the earlier version.

Andrew Osborne comments for Relocate Magazine: Businesses uneasy over post-Brexit immigration policy

04 October 2018

In an article for Relocate Magazine, Andrew Osborne discusses the immigration proposals coming out of the Conservative party conference.

Immigration in the manufacturing industry: understanding the landscape

16 January 2017

Neil Jennings and Sam Koppel have written an article for Manufacturing Global which comments on the political pressure to reduce migrant labour in the UK and the serious challenges this will cause to the industry.

Sexual portrayal of under-18s in ads

18 January 2017

Following a number of adjudications in recent years concerning the sexualised portrayal of children and young people, as well as the publication of various reports calling for action to stop the premature sexualisation of children, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has launched a consultation on the proposed introduction of new rules in the UK advertising codes prohibiting the sexual portrayal of under 18s in advertising. The consultation is open for response until 5pm 19 January 2017.

International data transfers - are model clauses now under threat?

05 October 2017

Many of you will remember Max Schrems, the Austrian law student who in 2015 successfully brought a case to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) that resulted in the “safe harbor” - the agreement that allowed the transfer of EU citizens’ data to the US - being declared invalid.

Data breaches under the GDPR - will the sky come crashing down on British Airways?

11 September 2018

Between 21 August and 5 September, British Airways (“BA”) suffered a data breach - in essence, its systems were “hacked”. This has affected the personal data of around 380,000 individuals. Following an announcement through BA’s Twitter account, the story was quickly picked up by mainstream media outlets, demonstrating the significant publicity that such events can generate in a short space of time.

Coronavirus - Hong Kong Relief Measures under the Employment Protection Scheme

08 April 2020

On 8th April 2020, the Chief Executive held a press conference announcing that the Hong Kong government is to roll out a HK$137 billion (approximately US$80 billion) relief package by implementing the Employment Protection Scheme to assist individuals and businesses to ease the financial difficulties arising out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Enforceability of an indemnification provision under a broker agreement: is it a penalty?

02 June 2023

A recent case in the Hong Kong Court of First Instance has seen the court applying the Court of Appeal’s penalty clause test to an indemnification provision under a broker agreement.

Lewis Silkin acknowledged in The Times: Common law libel rules unaffected

17 October 2017

Lewis Silkin have been acknowldged in an article for The Times which discusses a number of cases including Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd, Lachaux v Evening Standard Ltd & Lachaux v AOL (UK) Ltd.