So, quick, answer me this – when making redundancies outside the collective consultation rules, do you need to consult with the affected employees about the selection criteria relied upon or only as to the proposed impact of those criteria on that person? Traditional wisdom would point to the latter. The selection criteria are a matter … Continue Reading
Some cases just make you uneasy. This is one of them. It revolves around a Mrs Pendleton who was faced for reasons which are not strictly relevant with the requirement by her employer that she either divorce her husband or lose her job. OK then, not strictly relevant but sufficiently unusual to warrant a little … Continue Reading
While lamenting the passing of sugary drinks, one of the two great loves of my life along with employment law, I came across something interesting which had nothing at all to do with Baron Osborne’s red briefcase. The Employment Appeal Tribunal had a far more crucial issue on its plate… the sickie. Employers across the … 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
Manager A tells manager B that employee C isn’t up to the job. Believing this to be true, B sacks C. Is B guilty of discrimination if A’s report to him is tainted by improper considerations of C’s age? This sounds like an examination question but was actually a real issue facing the Court of … Continue Reading
Do you ever feel that you do not have your audience’s undivided attention? Perhaps it is the body language which gives it away, the distracted glances at the clock, a stifled yawn or the not quite sufficiently surreptitious cleaning of the finger nails. But surely no one has a right to the exclusive focus of … Continue Reading
In order to claim unfair dismissal you have to be dismissed. No, really. The EAT in Mr Clutch Auto Centres v Blakemore has overturned a Sheffield Tribunal decision that an employee’s employment was continuing, despite the fact that he had brought an unfair dismissal claim and there was no dispute between the parties that his … Continue Reading
It is rare that an employer wins its Tribunal case but still covers itself in so little glory as did Hampshire Police this month in its defence of a whistleblowing allegation brought by former policeman Mr Panayiotou. Mr Panayiotou was a chap with a strong, not to say obsessive, sense of right and wrong. He … Continue Reading
This is not quite as bad as it first sounds. Where a provision, criterion or practice (PCP) applied by an employer places a disabled employee at a substantial disadvantage by reason of his disability, then the Equality Act 2010 says that the employer has to make reasonable adjustments to prevent the PCP having that effect. … Continue Reading
Some more sensible guidance this week from the people who brought you Heafield –v- The Times, this time in connection with the use of covert tape recordings in evidence in the Employment Tribunal. Ms Vaughan alleged discrimination against London Borough of Lewisham and assorted others. She claimed that she had 39 hours of covertly tape-recorded … Continue Reading
