Case Law Update Mar 2025 – Manchester

About this event

Workers’ rights are governed through two processes: primary legislation – the law as agreed by parliament, and case law – the decisions and rulings made by the courts system, including employment tribunals.

Case law is of vital importance to workers’ rights because it clarifies how Acts of  Parliament are likely to be interpreted and implemented by judges, while in the case of judicial review it can even overturn the law altogether.

For example, while the political world has seen decades of legislation curtailing trade-union freedoms and the right to strike, a number of recent cases  (including Kostal, 2021; Jiwanji 2022, and Ineos, 2022) have reasserted collective-bargaining rights, establishing that imposition of pay awards while  collective bargaining is continuing is likely to be unlawful.

In 2023, the Agnew case removed significant barriers to claims by workers for unpaid wages and holiday pay in circumstances in which an employer has underpaid wages or holiday pay over a lengthy period.

And the 2023 Aslef and others case saw 13 unions win a judicial review against the government’s decision to remove the ban on the use of agency workers to cover industrial  action. In quashing regulations introduced by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade the High Court.

Join us at Unison North West Arena Point in Manchester as a team of barristers from Old Square Chambers guide us through significant cases relating to disability, religion and belief protections, victimisation, whistleblowing, holiday pay, protection from detriment on tradeunion grounds and industrial action.

Speakers

The event will be chaired by our Director James Harrison.

Elana Margetts, Carl Rix, and Rebecca Tuck KC from the Old Square Chambers team of Barristers.