Employment Law Cases

A volunteer in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency was a worker when undertaking remunerated activities, despite copious references in his documentation to him being a volunteer.

Employers do not have to consider past dismissals when deciding whether the threshold to trigger collective redundancy consultation obligations has been reached.

Redeployment is not a disability-related reasonable adjustment if the employee doesn’t meet the essential criteria for the role.

The Jhuti approach of looking behind a decision maker’s reason for dismissal should not be applied to ‘detriment of dismissal’ claims.

A misconduct dismissal was fair, notwithstanding apparent procedural failures.

Disclosures made to an investigating auditor appointed by the employer were protected under whistleblowing legislation.

A tribunal was entitled to find an organised grouping of employees for the purposes of a TUPE service provision change despite limited evidence being presented.

Travel from home to work sites was not ‘time work’ for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 reg. 30 and did not fall within the reg. 34 exceptions that would treat such travel as working time.

A fair redundancy dismissal requires proper consideration of alternative employment.

An employee’s claim against his employer in negligence, based on the way his employer had handled a harassment complaint against him, succeeded as it breached the duty of care owed to him by his employer.

Part-time worker discrimination is limited to instances where the part-time status is the ‘sole’ reason for the alleged discriminatory treatment.

While it was arguable that two HR consultants, appointed to investigate grievances and conduct a disciplinary hearing, were acting as an employer’s agents when undertaking those functions, it was not arguable that the employer’s reliance on their work when deciding to dismiss an employee meant that the consultants were co-liable as agents.

An employee who was contractually required to work variable shift lengths was not entitled to additional pay for working beyond his average weekly hours.

A transferor’s vicarious liability for alleged torts committed by two of its employees prior to a TUPE transfer does pass to the transferee.

The legal definition of a ‘woman’ under the Equality Act 2010 is based on biological sex.

An NHS Trust had taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent a black employee from being racially abused.

A tribunal had incorrectly struck out an employee’s claims for detriments for blowing the whistle under the Employment Rights Act and discrimination/detriments claims under the Equality Act. An organisation, other than the employee’s employer, could potentially be liable under specific sections even without a direct contractual relationship with the employee.

Employee who concealed a previous gross misconduct dismissal on an application form was fairly dismissed.

Employers cannot discipline an employee for manifesting a protected belief because someone else may be offended - unless they have also considered whether the action is both necessary and proportionate.

An employer was not required to consider an employee’s length of service or the possibility of alternative sanctions when dismissing for ‘some other substantial reason’ (SOSR) where the relationship between the parties had irretrievably broken down.