The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that both the claimant's former and prospective employers committed discrimination arising from disability when a negative verbal reference resulted in a job offer being withdrawn.
This first-instance tribunal decision shows that a series of incidents in which an employee is warned for verbally abusing colleagues can combine to lead to a fair dismissal, even if taken individually the incidents do not justify dismissal.
Amanda Steadman is a professional support lawyer, Iain Naylor, Lucy Sorell and Rachael Wake are associates, and Jessica-Alice Curtis is a trainee solicitor at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.
The dismissal of an immigration officer for taking a bribe was held to be fair by the employment tribunal. The employer was entitled to conclude that the honesty and integrity of the employee, who performed an important public function, was in doubt because she did not immediately report the bribe.
In Adeshina v St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2015] IRLR 704 EAT, the EAT held that flaws in disciplinary proceedings leading to a dismissal were remedied by the appeal process, and that the dismissal was fair.
A Northern Ireland tribunal has awarded protective awards of 90 days' pay to former City Link employees over the company's failure to consult on their redundancies.
In a reminder for employers of the dangers of Christmas parties, the employment tribunal in this case held that two zookeepers who got into a fight at London Zoo's Christmas party should have received the same disciplinary sanction.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has found a dismissal was fair even though another employee involved in the misconduct at a work event received a more lenient sanction. Key differences justified the disparity of treatment.
The Supreme Court has held that the US Government had collective redundancy consultation obligations towards civilian workers during the closure of a US army base in the UK.