Dallas McMillan's Glasgow Lawyers' Blog

Another important legal battle in the UK has been lost by Uber, after a London tribunal rejected its appeal against the verdict that it must treat all its drivers as ‘workers’. To do so would mean that all of Uber’s drivers in the UK would be entitled to minimum wage in addition to holiday pay, something which Uber, and the ‘gig economy’ as a whole is looking to avoid.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is inviting views on the proposed definitions of those self-employed people who will continue to have duties under health and safety law.

Today (9th July 2013) is the first day of the Judicial Review at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The hearing is expected to last until tomorrow (10th July 2013) with a decision expected shortly after. A similar Judicial Review application is being considered in England although no date has yet been assigned for this hearing.

Last week the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of North v Dumfries and Galloway Council. This has been a long running case with the key question being "who could be considered to be a comparator?" The Supreme Court interestingly upheld the original decision of the Employment Tribunal.

The Government have issued a draft set of regulations (The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Amendment) Order 2013) intended to come into force on 6th April which affect any proposal to make at least 20 employees collectively redundant from that date on.

Businesses are being told to do more to protect workers and members of the public from exposure to legionella.

The announcement that the government is to make compensation claims easier for the thousands of people who have mesothelioma - as a result of asbestos exposure at work - but who until now have been unable to claim because their employer no longer exists, has been welcomed by the TUC.