In Curless v Shell International Ltd, the Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal decision that an email that contained legal advice on how to avoid a discriminatory dismissal is protected by legal privilege because it was not advice to act in an "underhand or iniquitous way".
In L v Q Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that the principle of open justice precludes an employment tribunal from accepting a claimant's request that its judgment not be published on the public register of tribunal decisions.
In The British Council v Jeffery; Green v SIG Trading Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that whether or not an expatriate employee has sufficiently strong connections with Great Britain to come within the scope of British employment law is a question of fact, but that such an evaluation is a question of law.
In X v Y Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an email containing legal advice on how to disguise a discriminatory dismissal as a redundancy is not protected by legal advice privilege and is admissible as evidence in a tribunal.
In Fleming v East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that covert recordings of the private deliberations of the disciplinary panel were admissible as evidence, except for any content covered by legal professional privilege.
In Hale v Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that the decision to instigate the disciplinary procedure was not a one-off act, but the start of a state of affairs that would continue until the conclusion of the disciplinary process.
In this unusual case, an employment tribunal struck out four claimants' cases and ordered them to pay £17,371 each in costs after the respondent NHS trust's chief executive and lawyers were sent a covert recording of the trust receiving legal advice.
David Malamatenios is a partner, and Krishna Santra, Sandra Martins and Colin Makin are senior associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.