EAT REDUNDANCY
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Bias, misconduct and procedural irregularity
The Claimant worked as an Accountant in the Respondent’s Children and Families Directorate. The Employment Tribunal was correct to find that a redundancy situation was created when the Respondent reorganised the Directorate and introduced requirement for skills the Claimant was not considered to have. The Respondent had a diminished requirement for the kind of work the Claimant had carried out hitherto.
The Claimant maintained that her dismissal for redundancy was unfair. The facts relied upon by the Respondent to support its case on both redundancy and unfair dismissal were the same. The Respondent sought to argue as an alternative that the dismissal could be justified as being for SOSR under S98(1) (b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 [‘some other substantial reason of a kind such as to justify the dismissal of an employee holding the position which the employee held’]; it sought to rely upon exactly those facts to support its case of SOSR. The Employment Tribunal’s decision to allow the SOSR defence to be raised was justified in the exercise of its discretion; the Claimant had the opportunity to deal with the point and had done so effectively; the Claimant had not been prejudiced in any way by the raising of the SOSR defence. Even if there had been a procedural irregularity in the absence of substantial unfairness her appeal not succeed; Stanley Cole (Wainfleet) v Sheridan [2003] ICR 1449, applied. Hannan v TNT-IPEC [1986] IRLR 165; Murphy v Epsom College [1983] IRLR 395 and Land Rover v Short [2011] UKEAT/0496/10 considered.
Judges:
Serota QC J
Citations:
[2013] UKEAT 0539 – 11 – 1701
Links:
Statutes:
Employment Rights Act 1996 98(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.470639
