June 2009 Archives - Employment Law Advocates

Christmas and New Year Office Closure

01-Dec-2011 / Employment Law Advocates / Comments Off

Our office will be closing for the holiday period at 12.00pm on Friday 23rd December 2011 and will reopen again until 10.00am on Tuesday 3rd January 2012. Advocates will be mostly unavailable but may have intermittent access to email or telephone during this period. If you are an existing client, please contact your Advocate directly by email or telephone. If you are a new client or are seeking advice, please email info@employmentlawadvocates.com or complete the enquiry form on our Contact Us page ...

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Riam Dean

29-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / 1 Comment

Like everyone else, I have been rather fascinated by the case that was heard in the London Central Employment Tribunal last week in which a¬†law student¬†who is missing an arm from birth¬†brought a claim against¬†Abercrombie¬†& Fitch¬†alleging¬†disability discrimination. This¬†case has¬†it all¬†- glamour, intrigue¬†and cardigans!¬†The fact that she has¬†received so much support from the usually disability-lukewarm media is interesting in itself. It seems that the more straightforward varieties of disability discrimination, in which reasonable adjustments are neither possible nor necessary,¬†are easier for ...

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The Employment Law Years – 1998

26-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / 1 Comment

There will be more dark law soon but I am starting a new feature today which looks at decisions from the history of employment law. Many¬†are forgotten but they sometimes have an unexpected¬†relevance for the controversies of today. The first year I have selected is 1998, when the first appellate cases on the Disability Discrimination Act¬†began to appear.¬†These cases¬†were decided before the¬†judgment of the Court of Appeal in Clark¬†v Novacold¬†and that of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Heinz v Kenrick. ...

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Piggyback claims

24-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / 1 Comment

The fascinating case of Hartlepool Borough Council v Llewellyn concerns an issue which surprisingly has not been resolved in¬†nearly forty years¬†since the Equal Pay Act was passed, which is whether men who carry out the same work as women who are successful in equal pay claims can bring their own claims under the Act, using the successful women as comparators. Logic suggests that they can and the appeal against such a finding was indeed rejected by Justice Underhill. Dramatically, however, ...

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How to waste Council Tax

18-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / 2 Comments

I was very pleased to read this story on the BBC News website,¬†which confirms that Cheltenham Borough Council has lost its ludicrously expensive and potentially vexatious claim against its former managing director, Christine Laird. In fighting¬†the case,¬†the council has spent an amount close to the ¬£1 million it was claiming and was ordered to pay¬†a similar amount to her in costs.¬†The reality is that¬†it¬†had little prospect of success and failed on its facts. The council¬†said she was liable for misrepresentation ...

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Overpayments

15-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / 4 Comments

This article in the Daily Telegraph concerns a Barclays Bank employee who was paid ¬£19,000 a year for three years when she should have¬†received a salary of ¬£9,500. An Employment Tribunal in Ashford ruled, firstly, that she does not¬†have to return the overpayment and, secondly,¬†that she should continue to be paid the¬†higher amount. It¬†is unfortunate¬†that the news¬†reports do not explain the reasoning of the tribunal because I¬†am unable to¬†see a way in which it could properly¬†have¬†reached this conclusion. The starting point ...

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