The Courts have grappled with when a person will be an independent contractor rather than an employee in a variety of contexts, including tax and employment law as well as vicarious liability. Per Lord Justice Newey in the recent Burger case Introduction Over recent years there have been a series of leading cases on vicarious liability. Since November 2018, when my book A Practical Guide to Vicarious Liability was published, there have been four decisions of the Supreme Court

Introduction Last month’s blog on sexual harassment focussed on its recent inclusion in the list of wrongdoings protected by the whistleblowing legislation. In a pincer movement designed to provide even more protection to employees the Employment Rights Act 2025 extends the obligations on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Since 26 October 2024 employers have been required to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. It is de

In general, unwise or even irrational decisions made by individuals with capacity are considered legally binding. Per Warby LJ: RTM v Bonne Terre Limited and another [2026] EWCA CIV 488 Introduction An online betting and gaming business has successfully appealed against a High Court decision that it was unlawful to place cookies on a gambling addict’s devices and to send him targeted marketing emails. The addict had not given effective consent because it was “insufficiently f

Introduction Employees and workers assume they are protected whistleblowers, when a close reading of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) confirms their disclosure of wrongdoing does not satisfy the various conditions necessary. This is a precise and technical area governed by Part IVA ERA 1996. When a disclosure is protected, the person making it acquires the right not to suffer a detriment or be dismissed because of it. It is a valuable protection with no cap on the c

Introduction The Government has just launched a campaign to encourage more businesses of every size to lock the door on criminals by putting cyber security protections in place: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/businesses-urged-to-lock-the-door-on-cyber-criminals-as-new-government-campaign-launches Statistic Cyber threats cost UK businesses £14.7 million a year. Significant cyber incidents cost £195,000 on average. Over the past year, 82% of medium and large businesses hav

Introduction Earlier this month the ICO published guidance on the complaints handling processes organisations will be required to put in place in June 2026, when section 103 Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 comes into force. They very much hope this new statutory requirement will reduce the number of complaints they receive. Complaint parameters The section introduces a new section 164A into the Data Protection Act 2018 which allows a data subject to make a complaint to the co