Employment disputes
In Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA (in liquidation) v Ali and others (No.3), the Court of Appeal holds that, where a claimant alleges that stigma resulting from his or her previous employment affected his or her employment prospects, it was for him or her to prove that the stigma had a real or substantial effect on his or her obtaining employment.
In Wilding v British Telecommunications plc, the Court of Appeal upholds a decision by an employment tribunal that, by refusing an offer of part-time re-employment, an employee who had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on the ground of his disability had thereby failed to mitigate his loss.
In Zaiwalla & Co and another v Walia the EAT holds that an employment tribunal which upheld an employee's complaint of sex discrimination was entitled to award aggravated damages of £7,500 to reflect the fact that the employer conducted its defence of the tribunal proceedings in a manner deliberately designed to be intimidatory and threatening, and to cause the maximum distress to the employee.
The Court of Appeal in Apelogun-Gabriels v London Borough of Lambeth holds that there is no general principle that it will be just and equitable to extend time for bringing a tribunal claim where the applicant is using the employer's internal grievance procedure.
In Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Vento, the EAT upholds an appeal against an employment tribunal's manifestly excessive awards of £165,000 for future loss of earnings, and £65,000 for injury to feelings (which included £15,000 aggravated damages) to a former probationer police officer who suffered unlawful sex discrimination.
In Kuddus v Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary [2001] UKHL 29, the House of Lords allowed an appeal against a strike out of a claim for exemplary damages for the tort of misfeasance. It held that exemplary damages were not restricted to causes of action for which exemplary damages had been awarded prior to 1964. The House of Lords did not expressly decide whether exemplary damages should be available in discrimination cases.
The Court of Appeal holds in Asamoah-Boakye v Walter Rodney Housing Association Ltd that there was no termination by mutual agreement where the parties failed to agree on all the terms of the agreement, including the incorporation of those terms into a valid compromise agreement, with the result that it was never signed by the parties.
In Eastbourne Borough Council v Foster, the Court of Appeal holds that where a contract of employment was varied and subsequently terminated pursuant to a compromise agreement later found to be void, the original contract was repudiated by conduct, not brought to an end by mutual consent, and replaced by a new contract.
The Court of Appeal gives important guidance on how far tribunals need to go in exploring the circumstances of a claim. Plus cases on protected disclosure, redundancy selection, discrimination by an agent, working time exemptions and constructive dismissal.
An employee who was summarily and wrongfully dismissed 12 days before his 55th birthday, albeit with 12 weeks' pay in lieu of notice, was in principle entitled to claim damages made up of the amount that he would have been paid but for the employer's repudiatory breach of his contract of employment, holds the Court of Appeal in Silvey v Pendragon plc.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to employment disputes.