This case serves as a reminder to employers of the risks that can accompany Christmas parties, although the company in this case navigated the issues admirably.
A dismissal for fighting at a Christmas party involving individuals who attempt to play down the seriousness of the incident can be fair, as this case shows.
Georgina Kyriacou and David Malamentenios are partners and Melissa Powys-Rogrigues, Sandra Martins, Colin Makin and Krishna Santra are associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
The Court of Appeal has held that the "band of reasonable responses" test for determining unfair dismissal claims does not need to be modified where an employee's rights under art.8 of the European Convention on Human Rights are engaged as a result of his or her dismissal.
Carly Mather, Lydia Newman and Amy Ross-Sercombe are associates and Amanda Steadman is a professional support lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has provided a reminder of how "establishment" should be defined for the purposes of consulting collectively on redundancies under s.188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
This employer was told by the police that a non-negotiable condition of retaining the licence for its nightclub business, without which it would have to close, was the removal of an employee who had allegedly poorly handled incidents of violent crime in the nightclub.