June 2009 Archives - 2/2 - Employment Law Advocates

Dark law – Medical evidence

12-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / No Comments

Medical evidence is often required¬†by¬†Employment Tribunals, from short letters¬†by GPs to explain why a person failed to turn up to a hearing, to detailed expert reports in¬†order to establish whether a person qualifies for protection under the Disability Discrimination Act. There is case law which indicates that tribunals should not substitute their view for that of medical¬†witnesses and most of us are used to such documents being accepted¬†uncritically so it can initally be disconcerting when tribunals appear to take an ...

Read & Comment

Notes of evidence

10-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / No Comments

The case of Knight v Treherne Care & Consultancy is primarily about unfair dismissal but there is also a point about the Employment Appeal Tribunal Practice Direction and¬†the procedure¬†within it¬†for agreeing a record of the hearing below. In civil law, an appellant is entitled to receive a transcript produced by the court and, although it has to pay the adminstrative costs of producing it, these will be recoverable from the opponent¬†if the appeal is successful. The EAT used to have ...

Read & Comment

Tempting a person of the opposite sex requires concentration and attention

05-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / No Comments

Therefore, reality television contestants are employees, according to the French Supreme Court.

Read & Comment

Witnesses

/ James Medhurst / No Comments

This Friday, I report on an intellectually worthy and interesting decision about tribunal procedure and on a story about¬†adulterous flirtation¬†on a tropical island. In McBride v Standards Board for England, it was held that an Employment Judge sitting alone at a case management discussion can rule that certain witnesses¬†should¬†be prevented from¬†appearing at¬†the full hearing on the grounds that their evidence is irrelevant. Not surprisingly, Judge Peter Clark found that Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights,¬†which gives the ...

Read & Comment

Dark law between the lines – King v Eaton

02-Jun-2009 / James Medhurst / No Comments

The decision of the Court of Session in King v Eaton is reported in the Industrial Relations Law Reports at IRLR 199, and is one of those cases that appears to¬†say a lot more than is in the headnote. According to the IRLR, the tribunal at first instance was entitled to find the dismissals unfair for lack of consultation. However, in fact, the tribunal said something more interesting which is worth exploring. The original finding was that the tribunal did ...

Read & Comment