Employment News Letter – Summer 2015

In This Edition:
1. A Message from Michael Stubbs
2. Taking the decision: CLFIS (UK) Limited v. Dr Mary Reynolds - Gareth Price
3. Zero Hour contracts - Roger Quickfall
4. Who can appeal an employment tribunal? - Andrew Sugarman
5. Employment Tribunal’s duty to assist unrepresented litigants - Kirti Jeram
6. A period of Uncertainty Drawing to a Close - David Reade QC
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1. A Message from Michael Stubbs

 
At last summer has landed and it's warming up nicely: well at least for the Wimbledon fortnight and then I am sure normal "service" (pardon the pun) will resume!

In this issue we have Gareth Price’s article on the Court of Appeal age discrimination case of CLFIS (UK) Ltd v. Dr. Mary Reynolds which discusses whether an ET is obliged to look at the mental processes of others who may have had involvement in the steps leading to the decision to dismiss. Roger Quickfall considers the hot topic of zero hours contracts and Kirti Jeram reviews the extent to which an Employment Tribunal has a duty to assist unrepresented litigants. David Reade QC gives us a helpful insight to his recent case in the ECJ for Woolworths. Finally, Andrew Sugarman talks about his recent success on behalf of the Immigration Appeal judges, where an appeal was lodged by parties not involved in the first instance decision.

The general election is over and despite all the pre-election polls it has produced a majority Conservative Government. The Employment Bar joined the fight over the steep rise in Tribunal Fees as a "barrier to access to justice" with its letter to the government urging it to carry out a review of the fees. A Government review of the fees is expected in late 2015. We also await UNISON’s challenge to the fees regime which continues in the Court of Appeal, and a decision on this is not expected until autumn this year.
Lets be hopeful that by the time of our next newsletter in the autumn we've got some good news on fees to discuss.
 
I hope you enjoy reading our Newsletter and that you have a pleasant summer break.
As always, we welcome any comments or feedback on the e-Newsletter so feel free to email us at events@parklaneplowden.co.uk or tweet us at @parklaneplowden.
Michael Stubbs
Practice Director
Michael.stubbs@parklaneplowden.co.uk
1st July 2015
 
Date for Diary
Employment Grandstand Seminar
Newcastle & Leeds (22nd & 23rd October 2015)
Please register with us for further details at events@parklaneplowden.co.uk
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2. Gareth Price - Taking the decision: CLFIS (UK) Limited v. Dr Mary Reynolds
 
In CLFIS (UK) Ltd v. Dr. Mary Reynolds [2015] EWCA Civ 439 the Court of Appeal held that, when considering whether a Claimant’s age was the reason for her termination, it is the reasons behind the decision maker’s decision alone which matter. This article considers that case and its implications.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article (opens a new internet browser)
 
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3. Roger Quickfall - Zero Hour contracts
 

There can be few areas of employment law that have received as much public attention in recent years as so-called ‘zero hours contracts’. The term is used to describe those contracts under which the worker is not entitled to receive a minimum amount of work. In November 2013 the CIPD estimated there were just over a million people in the UK employed under such contracts.
 
Follow this link to read the rest of the cases (opens a new internet browser)
 
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4. Andrew Sugarman - Who can appeal an employment tribunal?
 
 
If a Japanese tourist visiting the UK, and en route to a trip round a newly decorated Buckingham Palace, reads about an Employment Tribunal judgment they find egregious in the Daily Mail, does the EAT have jurisdiction to hear their appeal if they drop off Grounds of Appeal the next day en route to the Tower of London?

Follow this link to read the rest of the article (opens a new internet browser)
 
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 5. Kirti Jeram - Employment Tribunal’s duty to assist unrepresented litigants
 
Practitioners in the Employment Tribunal will often experience a wide (and to their clients, no doubt, bewildering) range of approaches by Judges when dealing with parties who appear before them without legal representation. But where does that duty to assist such litigants begin and end?

Follow this link to read the rest of the article (opens a new internet browser)
 
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6. David Reade QC - A period of Uncertainty Drawing to a Close
 
Since the decision of the EAT in USDAW v. Ethel Austin Ltd (In Administration) USDAW And Another v. Unite The Union and others UKEAT/0547/12/KN [2013] IRL 886, and the subsequent reference by the CA to the ECJ, there has been considerable uncertainty as to the application of the collective redundancy consultation obligation under S.188(1) of TULRCA in the UK.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article (opens a new internet browser)

To view the opinion of the Advocate General (opens a new internet browser)