Trade unions: Compensation where no loss suffered

In Skiggs v South West Trains Ltd, the EAT holds:

• The employment tribunal was entitled to hold, on the facts, that an investigative meeting concerning a grievance about an employee who had previously been disciplined was not a disciplinary hearing for the purpose of s.10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999.
• As the meeting was not a disciplinary hearing, the employee was not entitled to be accompanied, as provided for by s.10. This was so even though the matters discussed at the investigative meeting might lead to a disciplinary process.
• An employment tribunal may award monetary compensation under s.172 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 to an individual trade union official who is refused time off for union duties, even though no financial or other special loss has been suffered or claimed.
• An award may be made in compensation for the wrong done by the employer in refusing time off but it is not to be regarded as a penalty or punishment for the employer.