Key Employment Cases for 2007

Citation

Guth, J. (2007), "Key Employment Cases for 2007", Managerial Law, Vol. 49 No. 5/6, pp. 273-273. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090550710841386

Rubenstein's Key Employment Cases for 2007 is a strange little book. My initial reaction was “what's the point of this book” and my opinion has not changed much after reading it.

In Part 1 of this book, Rubenstein sets out 70 yet to be decided cases concerned with various issues of employment law. This section is an expanded text of his lecture to the Industrial Law Society meetings in Bristol, London, Leeds and Newcastle in early 2007 and I wonder if the subject matter is indeed better dealt with in a lecture or speech. The cases are listed giving a brief abstract of the issues under consideration by the various courts and are organised thematically into sections on Transfers of undertakings, Trade union rights, Health and Safety issues, Equal Pay and various discrimination issues to name just a few. The issue I have is not with the subject matter of the publication. In fact it is fascinating to contemplate the outcome of a whole collection of cases which were, at the time of writing at least, undecided. The problem lies in the usefulness of the publication as it stands. A lecture series, for example, can take account of decided cases and new cases coming before the courts. A book cannot be updated in the same way. Unfortunately this one was out of date almost the minute it was submitted for publication.

All is not lost however. Practitioners and academics alike might find it useful to know which issues the courts are considering and which decisions to look out for. Part 1 of this book makes this easy. Employment law teachers can make use of the cases as “real life” teaching scenarios and the book can be used quite innovatively in teaching sessions. However, all of this could also be achieved through an electronically published (and updatable) transcript of Rubenstein's lectures. At the time of writing this review many of the cases in the book have in fact been decided and many other issues have come before the court reducing the usefulness of this publication further.

Part 2 of this book contains a record of those who have argued cases which have been reported in the Industrial Relations Law Reports and the judges who have decided those cases. It is, in my view, of no real use at all. In fact Rubenstein himself notes that he “makes no particular claim for its significance, other than it seemed to be an interesting exercise to carry out” (at p. 31).

At £24.95 this book, little more than a booklet, is certainly overpriced for what it is and I am not at all sure it is worth buying. It is a shame in a way because the idea of providing readers, practitioners, employers, employees and academics alike, with an insight into what the courts are currently considering and what the big issues in employment law are likely to be in the next year is a really good one. A publication of this nature is just the wrong medium for it.