Employment tribunals and courts
In Kamal v Wakefield Health Authority a Leeds industrial tribunal (Chair: J Prophet) has ruled that until new legislation has been enacted, there is no time limits on claims brought under Article 119 of the EC Treaty based on the decision of the House of Lords that the hours-per-week qualifying thresholds under the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act are incompatible with EC law.
The time limit for bringing a complaint against a public sector employer in respect of discriminatory retirement did not begin to run until the date the Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay (Remedies) Regulations 1993 came into force, rules a Southampton industrial tribunal (Chair: I T Soulsby) in Wild v Portsmouth & SE Hants Health Authority.
In Mulox IBC Ltd v Geels [1994] IRLR 422 ECJ, the European Court of Justice held that legal proceedings in respect of disputes arising out of contracts of employment should be brought in the country in which the employee carries out the activities agreed with the employer, rather than the country in which the employer's establishment is located.
In Homewood v Ministry of Defence a Glasgow industrial tribunal (Chair: H J Murphy) has awarded £299,851 to a former army major who was forced to resign when she became pregnant.
A recommendation that staff who come into contact with job applicants be trained in the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and that all those handling job applications and conducting interviews be trained in the avoidance of unlawful discrimination has been made by a Middlesborough industrial tribunal (Chair: J D Myers) in Dickinson and Field v Mason and Mason.
When deciding whether to order the re-employment of an unfairly dismissed employee, an industrial tribunal only has to make a "provisional" determination or assessment on the practicability of the employer complying with such an order, holds the Court of Appeal in Port of London Authority v Payne and others.
In Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority (No.2) (2 August 1993) EOR51A, the European Court of Justice rules that it is contrary to European Community law for a fixed upper limit to be placed on the compensation which can be awarded for the loss and damage suffered as a result of sex discrimination.
An industrial tribunal has no power to award exemplary damages in a discrimination case, holds the EAT in Deane v London Borough of Ealing and another, following the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Gibbons and others v South West Water Services Ltd.
The Court of Appeal holds in O'Laoire v Jackel International Ltd that, unless it can be shown that an employee will recover twice for the same loss, damages for wrongful dismissal should not be reduced by the amount of compensation awarded by a tribunal in respect of unfair dismissal.
An industrial tribunal was entitled to exercise its discretion to extend the time limit for unfair dismissal applications from redundant employees, who mistakenly believed that work would "pick up"; and they would be re-employed, until two weeks after the employer's business closed down.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to employment tribunals and courts.