Articles by ‘Gemma Ospedale’

In Edwards and another v Encirc Limited, a Tribunal has held that time which is spent by Trade Union representatives in attending union meetings was not “working time” within the meaning of the Working Time Regulations. The reason for this was that this time could not count as working time because it was not time which the workers spent being able to carry out the employer’s work or their duties; and it was not classified as working time under any relevant agreement.

In Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited v Judge, the High Court has held that there were no grounds for finding that a director was subject to an implied term (as opposed to an express term in the contract) requiring delivery up of confidential information after his employment was terminated.

In Nayif v High Commission of Brunei Darussalam, the Court of Appeal has determined that a Claimant may bring negligence proceedings based on facts which had been brought as a discrimination claim, but which had been rejected by an Employment Tribunal as being out of time. Although issue estoppel might arise where the Tribunal had considered the substantive issues in the claim, the Court of Appeal considered this did not arise where the decision to reject the claim at the outset had been based on a jurisdictional issue.

The EAT case of Sefton Borough Counsel v Wainwright has considered the requirement under regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 to offer a suitable alternative role to a woman who is selected for redundancy whilst on maternity leave – known as the “protected period”; and section 18 of the Equality Act concerning unfavourable treatment “because” of pregnancy or maternity leave.

In East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust v Saunders, the EAT found that a Tribunal had wrongly gone off on a frolic of its own in conducting its own internet research into the condition of a disabled Claimant – and then relying on it. The Claimant alleged she was disabled under the Equality Act due to the symptoms of her depression. She has been prescribed medication. The Tribunal decided to conduct its own internet research on her condition and its medication and found evidence to suggest that she was taking the maximum dose. It proceeded to question her in detail on this basis, assuming that information was accurate. The EAT found that the Tribunal had crossed the line between impartiality and acting as an advocate on behalf of the Claimant (he was unrepresented) rather than performing its proper role as adjudicator.

In Truslove and another v Scottish Ambulance Service the EAT has overturned a Tribunal decision that two ambulance paramedics who worked on-call shifts away from home and were required as part of their work to take accommodation within a 3 mile radius of the ambulance station while they were on-call, could not have the entirety of their time treated as working time for the purposes of the Working Time Regulations.

The High Court decision in Chweidan v Mischcon de Reya Solicitors is quite an interesting case on its facts as well as restating the test for calculating damages for loss of a chance.

The EAT case of Equality and Human Rights Commission v Earle page 845 is an interesting case on the importance of correct construction and interpretation of the words in a contract.

In Halawi v WDFG UK Limited (t/a World Duty Free) the Court of Appeal has upheld an EAT decision that a beauty consultant was not in “employment” as required under section 83 of the Equality Act because she did not have a Contract of Employment or a contract personally to undertake the work.

In Eville and Jones (UK) Limited v Grants Veterinary Services Limited, a Tribunal has stung a transferor for the sum of £65,500 for failure to provide employee liability information to the transferee.

The case of Thomas v Nationwide Building Society deals with the inter-relationship between the early conciliation via ACAS and the lodging of an ET1.

Ridge v HM Land Registry is the first reported case which confirms that the defence of set-off is available in Tribunals.