Sector focus
An employment tribunal has held that an NHS trust committed discrimination arising from disability and failed to make reasonable adjustments for an employee having cancer treatment who was required to undergo a competitive interview process during a redeployment exercise.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has dismissed police officers' claims for indirect discrimination on the ground of age. Police forces, to make costs savings, applied the A19 rule in the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 to retire officers who had accrued a certain minimum pension entitlement that could be achieved only after 30 years' service.
The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal has held that there is no reason in principle why voluntary overtime should not be included in holiday pay, if it is normally carried out and is an "appropriately permanent feature" of the worker's remuneration.
An employment tribunal has held that an NHS trust unfairly dismissed an employee who was reported for coming to work smelling of alcohol, without further evidence that he was unfit for work.
In McMillan v Airedale NHS Foundation Trust [2014] IRLR 803 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the NHS had no contractual right to increase a disciplinary sanction on a doctor's internal appeal against that sanction.
In Thomson v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust EAT/0218/14, the EAT upheld an employment tribunal's ruling that a conduct dismissal was unfair because the chair of the disciplinary panel had no training or experience in the role, and he impermissibly dismissed for what amounted to serious but not gross misconduct. The employee had, however, failed to establish that there was any failure to make reasonable adjustments.
An employment tribunal has held that a requirement that police firearms officers with one year away from work attend an intensive firearms training course on their return indirectly discriminated against a female police officer returning from maternity leave.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that a dismissal was procedurally unfair because the chair of the disciplinary panel had no experience or training in conducting disciplinary hearings. This led to the disciplinary panel misapplying the disciplinary procedure, and in these circumstances, the EAT found the dismissal was also substantively unfair.
An employment tribunal has found that Greater Manchester Police indirectly discriminated against a single-parent police officer who worked term time only when it introduced a requirement that she work nine days during school holidays. The case is a stark reminder to public-sector organisations reviewing flexible working arrangements as a way to cut costs to beware of the potential for discrimination.
The employment tribunal held that a police worker's "profound belief in the proper and efficient use of public money in the public sector" is not a "philosophical belief" under the Equality Act 2010.
HR and legal information, news and guidance relating to specific industry sectors.