EAT Victimisation Discrimination – Unfair dismissal – Polkey deduction
The Appellants employed the Respondent as Sales Operation Director. She was dismissed on spurious grounds after she failed to agree a salary reduction and a change in her role. She complained of unfair dismissal, sex discrimination and victimisation in the grievance procedure which she launched together with the appeal against her dismissal. The ET held the appeal procedure and the grievance process were shams intended protect the employer’s position in anticipated ET proceedings. The dismissal was (as was conceded) unfair, but the sex discrimination allegations failed. However the ET found victimisation in respect of the way the grievance procedure was run. The ET held there was no basis for a Polkey reduction. The Appellants asserted the ET decision that the grievance procedure was a sham was perverse, that the ET erred in law in its criticism of the procedure, that the ET was wrong to hold there was victimisation and that it was wrong not to allow a Polkey reduction.
Held: the ET’s finding that the grievance procedure was a sham was not perverse, that since the procedure was a sham the ET was not wrong in its criticism of the process, that it was entitled to find victimisation and entitled to hold there should be no Polkey reduction, but that when it came to the assessment of compensation it would have to have regard to all the evidence which had a bearing on the loss caused including evidence suggesting the Respondent would not have remained indefinitely with the Appellants.
Citations:
[2008] UKEAT 0039 – 08 – 0105
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Software 2000 Ltd v Andrews etc EAT 17-Jan-2007
EAT Four employees successfully established before the Employment Tribunal that they had been unfairly dismissed for redundancy. The Tribunal found that there had been procedural defects. In particular the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 18 June 2022; Ref: scu.267398