Blacklisting judgment

In a disappointing judgment, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has refused to imply a contract between blacklisted health and safety rep Dave Smith and construction giant John Mowlem, leaving him unprotected by the Blacklist Regulations 2010.

Smith worked for Mowlem through an employment agency and lost his initial tribunal claim — even though blacklisting was admitted — because he had no direct employment relationship with the blacklister.

Before the EAT, Smith had argued unsuccessfully that the combined effect of the need to protect his human rights to freedom of association and reputation, as well as the influence of the ground-breaking Supreme Court judgment of Autoclenz v Belcher [2011] UKSC 41, required the EAT to imply a contractual relationship between him and Mowlem, the hirer.

www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2014/0081_13_1701.html