EAT Certification Officer – The Certification Officer had not determined the true complaint made by the Appellant. The Certification Officer had wrongly focused on identifying the correct construction of a particular rule of the Respondent Trade Union, which the Union had misapplied in such a way as to repress unlawfully the Appellant’s attempts to become a candidate for the office of General Secretary and Treasurer of the Union.
The thrust of the Appellant’s complaint was not about what was the correct interpretation of the rule. That was common ground. It was that the Union had misapplied the rule and used its wrong interpretation of it as a vehicle for repressing the Appellant’s campaign and disciplining officials of his branch who proposed to support his nomination as a candidate. The Appellant was entitled to a finding that the Union had thereby acted in plain breach of section 47 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
An amendment to the grounds of complaint had not been necessary. If, however, the amendment were regarded as having been necessary, the Certification Officer had been wrong not to allow a late amendment that would have made the wording of the complaint reflect the true nature of the Appellant’s case. The amendment, though late, did not introduce any new facts or rely on any new cause of action of which the Union did not have prior notice.
The Certification Officer’s alternative reasoning and conclusion that the Appellant’s case was ‘disingenuous’ was perverse and could not stand. The Appellant was as much entitled to the protection of sections 47 and 108A of the 1992 Act as any other member of the Union and was not to be denied a remedy merely because he had failed to contact other branches before complaining to the Union about its rules; nor because he could be motivated by hostility to the Union’s leadership or a desire to cause difficulties for it. The Appellant’s application to the Certification Officer had not been an abuse of process.
The Appeal Tribunal would make a declaration of breach of section 47 and section 108A of the 1992 Act, but declined to order the election to be re-run, as the election results had been announced over 15 months before the hearing; the Appellant’s chances of becoming a candidate would have been slender even without the Union’s unlawful interference with his campaign.
Judges:
Kerr J
Citations:
[2017] UKEAT 0294 – 16 – 1403
Links:
Statutes:
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 47
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582060
