Remote evidence in Tribunal hearings have traditionally been limited to circumstances where an individual’s location or health makes it very difficult for them to attend the venue. Historically the ETs have not much liked it and there is a continued perception that evidence given remotely is like that given by a written statement alone – … Continue Reading
Although we still don’t have a new federal government in Belgium (elections were on 26 May but who’s counting …), we are already heading towards the next vote. Social elections, that is, to appoint the employee representatives in the Health & Safety Committee and Works Council.… Continue Reading
As an alternative to Brexit, Russian spies and what happens now to Ant and Dec, here is something new to keep your next dinner party guests impressed and entertained, the Ministry of Justice’s unmissable statistics for the Employment Tribunal Service for Q4 2017.… Continue Reading
A survey carried out by the CBI published earlier this week shows that 90% of the 299 employers spoken to thought that the removal of Employment Tribunal fees would either probably or definitely lead to an increase in weak and misguided claims. Yikes. But is it true?… Continue Reading
General Elections. Don’t they seem to come round more frequently than they used to? A tough call for voters, this particular one, not just because of economist JK Galbraith’s wise words above but also because the outcome won’t make the slightest difference to the biggest issue of the day, the terms on which we are … Continue Reading
Last week (9 February) the Employment Tribunal announced that its decisions would be freely available online, allowing searches by name of employer or perhaps prospective employee. You know you want to give your candidate a quick once-over if you can (employers never being strong believers in the view that what you don’t know can’t hurt … Continue Reading
After the gestation period of an elephant, the Government Review of the impact of the fees for Employment Tribunal cases finally emerged squalling into the daylight earlier this month. Weighing in at a healthy 100 pages and with a foreword by proud father Justice Minister Sir Oliver Heald, the Review takes a detailed look at … Continue Reading
Long-time Employment Tribunal practitioners will recall more or less fondly the days when every so often the Judge would suddenly send the parties out of the room mid-hearing and then lean towards one of the representatives and say incredulously “Come on, really?”. When it was said to the other side, that was absolutely the Overriding … Continue Reading
Last month saw the publication of the Government consultation document on reforming the Employment Tribunal system, a joint production between the Ministry of Justice and BEIS. For when the conversation falls into a flat spin at your next dinner party, here are the highlights, using the word at its most generous. In summary, the reforms … Continue Reading
So said Queen Elizabeth I in a very early glimpse into English Civil Court proceedings. Should we therefore be heartened by a possible sign of things to come in the modern employment world, thanks to Lord Justice Briggs earlier this week? Addressing the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators on 26 September, Briggs LJ told of his … Continue Reading
Take good notes of consultation meetings This may sound trite, but it is amazing how often this is overlooked. You need good notes if you are going to follow-up on any points after the meeting, if the employee subsequently challenges anything that was said, or if the matter ends up in the Employment Tribunal; so … Continue Reading
Those few of our readers who are inexplicably not committed followers of the House of Commons Justice Committee have missed a little cracker this week with the issue of its report on Court and Tribunal fees. As everyone in the business knows, the introduction of fees in 2013 knocked the bottom out of Employment Tribunal … Continue Reading
I am actually much less tedious at dinner parties than this makes me sound, but I was reading the Annual Report of the new President of the Tribunals the other day and found some moderately interesting bits and pieces, if you like that sort of thing. In no particular order: It is clear that the … Continue Reading
Do you ever think that your line managers are making such a hash of a grievance or disciplinary process that it would be easier to do it yourself? Do you watch in horror as they stumble blindly but unerringly towards what is clearly the wrong decision? Are you tempted to give them a nudge in … Continue Reading
Are you sick of speculation about where the wheel will stop spinning on holiday pay? Just want to be given a safe position and stick with it? Do you have any commission or overtime claims against you stayed by the Tribunal pending a definitive steer from case law or legislators? Steps to provide some clarity … Continue Reading
This is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, so here are two brief and totally unrelated perspectives on mental health issues in the workplace. First, a cautionary note for employers in relation to Employment Tribunal proceedings brought by sufferers of serious mental health issues. In Higgins – v – Home Office decided last week, … Continue Reading
I am quite confident that a great many of us have considered the possibility of getting a tattoo. It may have been during the heady days of youth and only a fleeting fantasy, but a consideration nonetheless. I will freely admit toying with the idea right up to the moment I realised that ‘inking’ myself … Continue Reading
In the aftermath of International Womens’ Day, the history books were once again re-written when the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal classified a pregnant worker’s severe morning sickness as a disability under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). Ms Bevilacqua was a full time Sales Consultant at a Telstra store up until October 2013 when … Continue Reading
The long-awaited decision of the Leicester Employment Tribunal in Lock -v- British Gas was issued yesterday. It confirmed, as everyone knew, that holiday pay would have to include an element in respect of commissions, but it also provides for the first time a steer (using the word advisedly, for it is actually no more than … Continue Reading
It wouldn’t happen in professional football. There you are as coach, carefully psyching up your team to a nerve-jangling peak of readiness in the dressing room when one of the match officials trots in to tell you that the other side would actually rather come back and do it in three months, if that’s OK … Continue Reading
Employment Tribunal statistics released in March 2014 show that there has been a vertiginous drop in new employment claims since the new Tribunal fee structure came into force on 29 July 2013; the average number of claims per month in the October to December 2013 period being 79% less than the same period last year. … Continue Reading
